Wherever the Road Might Lead
by LittleRin26
Summary: Part 2 of the Lil' Bird Series. With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*

**Warning: **This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

**Pairing: **Shane & Birdie Walsh

**Wherever the Road Might Lead**

**Chapter One**

The light rustling of clothes and thumping of my brother's boots woke me that night. It was nearly pitch black in the roach motel we had taken over as a base early this afternoon, with only bare hints of the moonlight shining through the narrow bathroom window. Had it not been for that little bit of light, I might have screamed.

I guess I was still a little on edge.

Ricky—whom I guessed couldn't sleep either—was tiredly pulling his boots on, attempting to be quiet and not wake Lori and Carl who were sleeping relatively well after everything that had happened at the CDC.

Not wanting him to worry, I rolled over, pretending to still be asleep and stared at the rectangle of moonlight reflected on the wall in front of me.

Ricky walked passed and slowly eased the door open, letting in a blast of cool air into the stifling room. Stifling or not—I wouldn't part with the covers.

Like I said—I was still on edge and Shane had agreed to night watch.

As I laid there, I tried to reflect on the good that had happened today and not the bad—it was easier said than done. I was glad we had survived, I was even happy that Dale had talked Andrea out of committing suicide at the last minute…but I just couldn't shake the despair I saw on Jenner's face as we were leaving. He truly felt that there was absolutely no hope for the future, and for the first time, I actually wondered why.

Was this virus…something more than the government had led on? Was it something more than Jenner had led us to believe? The man was full of secrets and I was suffering from the "should-have" bug. I should have asked more questions, better questions. Instead of screaming in Andrea's face or smacking my brother around, I should have been trying harder to find out why Jenner felt he had to lock us in there with him in the first place. Jenner would have obviously told me anything I wanted to know. So why didn't I ask?

I guess Ricky was right in one respect; I would have made a lousy cop and an even worse interrogator. I was too ruled by my emotions in certain situations and it probably would have gotten me killed somewhere down the line. Not that I ever wanted to be a police officer, but I did entertain the notion long enough when I was in college to send both Rick and Shane into early white-hairs.

"Hey man," I heard Shane whisper through the paper thin walls of the crumbling motel. "How's everybody?"

Rick sighed and then coughed—the prick was smoking and Lori was gonna have his ass in the morning. "Lori and Carl are asleep, knocked out as soon as they laid down…

"And Birdie?"

"Tryin' to act like she's sleepin' so I won't worry." My brother replied, his tone hinting towards amusement.

I had to throw a hand over my mouth so I didn't snort loud enough to give myself away; Fuckin' twin senses.

"Shane," Rick's voice turned softer, more serious. "I wanted…to apologize for—

"No," Shane said, "No, you were right to do what ya did. I lost control. I thought someone was gonna hurt Birdie, Carl, Lori, you…and I just lost it. You ain't got to apologize for my temper."

He laughed then, "Ya might wanna think 'bout apologizin' to Birdie. She's the one ya gotta worry 'bout kickin' you're scrawny ass. She was madder than hell when you hit me, man."

They shared a laugh. "Is that right?"

"Damn right, it is."

"Yeah," my brother agreed. "She never did like it much when we fought."

They laughed again, and I could almost see my brother's eyes twinkling in the moonlight. "So you and Birdie, huh?"

Shane breathed, "Yeah, me n' Birdie. You're…not mad are ya, for me marryin' her this way? I told you the other night…"

"Shane," Rick laughed, cutting off whatever rant he was about to go on. "I don't remember everything from last night—but I do remember that."

He asked Ricky for permission? Holy shit!

"I guess I've always known how you felt about her," he continued, speaking softly. "That look in your eye was always there—but I guess 'cause nothin' ever came about that I assumed ya'll had already talked about it, or you weren't gonna bother… As long as you love her—and I know you do—I won't ever get in the way….But—

Uh-oh, I knew what was comin' next. Here comes the big brother spiel.

"But, if you ever hurt her—

"Rick, if I ever hurt that woman there'd be a line o'people waitin' to throw me to the walkers."

"People like Dixon?" Ricky taunted, laughing even though I distinctly heard a shove and a small thud, followed by Ricky's oompf.

"Shut-up, that redneck's lookin' to have his eyes removed." Ricky laughed at that. "What man? He don't even try to hide it."

"No," Ricky chuckled, "He sure doesn't. But he'd be the first person to protect her in a bad spot."

Shane sighed, "Yeah, I know. Why the hell else do you think I put up with it?"

Ricky laughed again, and I just knew he was about to say somethin' smartass. "Because you know Birdie'd tar and feather your ass if you went around beatin' up her "friends" again."

Not being able to help it, I laughed out loud at Shane's cry of indignity. I didn't give a care if they heard me now, that last comment of Rick's was all too true. If a boy so much as looked at me crossways in high school Shane would start pickin' fights…and dear Lord, when my first boyfriend made me cry after he dumped me for Misty-Joe Teller in front of most of the junior class—Shane got expelled from school for three days after beatin' the kids ass so bad. Shane's dad wasn't a very good man, so it was my father who ended up picking him up that day and talking the principle out of expelling him for good.

Even if that one might have been justified, Shane's track record of scarin' the shit out of some of the dweebs I used to hang out with used to piss me off somethin' fierce, and a few of them broken noses he's suffered over the years were complements of yours truly.

Thinking about high school, thinking about the way life used to be made me a little sad. If things hadn't turned out the way they had, I'd probably be sitting 'round a fire right now in Ricky's back yard to welcome him home from the hospital. We'd be drinkin' a beer and talking about Shane's old conquests…they'd be pickin' on me for dumpin' the man who'd asked me to marry him and life would just be…life.

Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face and I was trying hard not sob audibly. We had come so close to death today…so, so close.

As if Ricky had sensed my tears, I heard him sigh and tell Shane to go ahead and get some sleep.

"You sure man?"

"Yeah, go on in and see Birdie."

Not even a heartbeat later the door creaked open again, letting in another cool blast of Georgia air and Shane shuffled his way inside. I could tell he was trying to be quiet but he had been outside all night and I could tell by the way he bumped into everything with muffled curses that he probably couldn't see his hand in front of his face.

As he sat down on the edge of the bed behind me, I tried to stifle my tears. Shane didn't need anything else to worry about and I knew my best friend—if he heard me crying he would be worried. His shoes plunked to the floor next and I heard the shuffle fabric against skin as he removed his shirt.

I tried my best to be still, I really did, but when he slid under the covers with me, his hands going around my waist to pull me back to his chest, the dam inside me broke and all my resolve not to cry in front of him crumbled.

"Darlin'?" He questioned, pushing my hair off my neck as he laid a gentle kiss to my pulse point. "Baby? What is it?"

Shanking my head, I sobbed harder, using the pillow under my head to muffle the sound.

"Com'ere," he whispered as he used his arms to roll me over to face him.

Throwing my leg over his hip, I snuggled into his chest and truly sobbed. He didn't really say much of anything…but he didn't need to say anything. I just needed the warmth of his body and lulling beat of his heart. I needed to know that he was really alive and that we weren't back at the CDC as nothing but ash and bone.

"We're here, baby," He told me softly. "We made it."

I nodded against his chest, feeling horrible even though I was happy to be alive. "I feel so guilty."

"What?" He asked, clearly surprised. "Why would ya feel guilty?"

"Jacqui is dead…and I don't even care. I didn't even take a second to try and stop her. I just took my family an' ran like a coward."

"Babe," he sighed. "T-dog tried to talk her out of it; her mind was pretty well set. Don't you go feelin' bad because you lived; don't feel bad because your family made it."

"We almost died today." I whispered brokenly. God, I felt so ridiculous, breaking down now, but I just couldn't get the image of Shane on fire out of my head.

"But we didn't…thanks to you and your gorgeous face."

I snorted and swatted at him. "Yeah, saved us 'cause I look like a dead chick, wonderful. I bet I look horrible now."

He chuckled, shuffling under the blanket until he pulled his hand out and pressed a pad of cloth into my hand. "Here."

"Is this one of your gun rags?" I asked snottily as I wiped my eyes and blew my nose.

"No," he scoffed but didn't elaborate.

I had just been teasing him when I asked him if the now soiled rag was the one he used to pamper his gun with. I could tell by the feel of the cloth that it wasn't like the same as the course utility rag that he and Daryl always seemed to have stuffed somewhere on their persons, it was too delicate and soft.

As I toyed with the material, I realized that the hem and corners were embroidered. Where in the blazes did Shane get a ladies handkerchief?

"Shane?" I laughed, just about to ask…and then I felt something familiar; a raised monogram in the bottom corner of the material. It was a scripted B with a flower and I'd bet my life if I could see, that the hanky would be a worn out blue and the flowers were white daisies.

"Shane, you still have this?" I asked, fingering over the delicate stitching. This thing had to be at least 27 years old…if not older, but Granny Clara insisted a lady should always carry one in case of an emergency. It was one of the first ones I ever did by myself and I distinctly remember the last day I saw it.

I remember that fall being one of the coldest ones in Georgia history. Rick and I had just celebrated our birthdays on September 14th and had Shane celebrated his on the 20th not even a full week before that horrible tragedy had happened. It was almost unbelievable losing Celia and yet there we were, standing around the open grave of Shane's mother.

Shane had never been close with his father—for reasons I don't even know about—and losing his mother… I just remember him looking so lost. He had been truly devastated by her unexpected death and I believe it's what ultimately led him into law enforcement; he wanted to make a difference.

You see, Shane's mother was killed by a drunk driver who had been stopped by an officer that knew him and was let go with a pass. It wasn't all that uncommon back in those days for one of the local law enforcement to see someone they knew, and knew they had a few drinks and still let them drive the rest of the way home. We lived so far out in the country, it usually didn't matter…there wasn't anyone on them roads after dark to get hurt, but this time…it really, really did matter because it was Celia Walsh on the road, on her way back from town with Shane's belated birthday present from the Smith's kids who couldn't make it to his party due to illness.

Shane had been silent all through the service and the eulogy. He didn't utter a word at the gathering afterword, either. In fact he didn't say anything the entire time Rick and I were there with him.

I remembered lying in bed, worried sick about him for hours until Rick got the phone call from Shane's father, pissed off that Shane had snuck out of the house. Shane had gone out the window sometime after his family had left and nobody could find him.

Rick and I—not even bothering to change out of our pajama's—Immediately jumped in his old pick-up and started checking out all of Shane's haunts in town. We ended up searching for hours, and it seemed like we looked everywhere. I remember crying my eyes out thinking of Shane out there on those black roads, cold and feeling lonely. Ricky was a frantic mess; he was scared to death that Shane had gone and done something stupid to himself.

I remember screaming at Ricky to turn around when I realized where Shane was.

We were cruising around the drive-in again…

"He's at the park, Ricky." I remember telling him and I remembered him looking at me like I was insane. On any other day, I would have agreed that the idea of Shane at children's park sounded a little far-fetched…but not that day.

"You remember when we were little and Celia used to watch us…she used to take us to that park every day…"

Ricky was still looking at me like I had sprouted a potato out of my nose, but he turned the truck around and headed for the edge of town.

Sure enough, when we arrived Shane was propped up under a tree near the monkey bars, an empty bottle of peppermint snaps in his hand. Tears were streaming down his face and he was shivering.

I remember Ricky grabbing a blanket out from behind the seat and wrapping him in it before putting him in the truck next to me.

It was the first time Shane had really ever hugged me. As soon as his ass when inside the cab his head was buried into my neck and he didn't let me go the rest of the night. It was then that I gave him that hanky, after drying his wet eyes with and kissing his cheek. I would have never dreamed he actually would keep it.

"Yeah," he replied lowly. "I'm sorry for keepin' it…I just…"

"No, that's alright." I told him, cuddling closer to him. "I gave it to you for a reason. You needed to know that someone still cared about you."

"I love you, Birdie," he told me softly, kissing my lips.

"I love you, too."

I fell asleep soon after with Shane kissing me softly and me telling him that I would always love him. It was the truth—I made a promise there that night in the dark—a promise that no matter what happened…no matter where this life would take us or where our road might lead…I would love that man lying next to me with my last breath.

* * *

**~ Author's Note ~  
**  
Welcome to Wherever the Road Might Lead, as many of you probably noticed right off the bat, this chapter was a lot longer than the ones I've posted in Lil' Bird, and they will remain this way. Hopefully, I can still shell chapters out just as quickly, but no promises...life does happen and all that.

Well, anywho...I thought I give you all a little insight into Shane's past and perhaps show some of the reasons I've made Shane so protective of Birdie and the Grimes family. These little memories will be popping up sporadically all throughout the story. I only hope you all enjoy reading them as much as I love writing them.

Well, off to write chapter three, if I get it finished soon, I'll get chapter two posted right away.

LittleRin26


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary:** With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*

**Warning: **This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

**Pairing: **Shane & Birdie Walsh

**Chapter Two**

As usual, whenever I managed to get comfortable in bed morning always seemed to come much too quickly, though I really _couldn't_ complain much about the wake up. Waking up with Shane lips raining warm opened mouth kisses down the side of my neck while grinding his impressive morning wood into my backside was definitely nothing to complain about.

"Mornin' darlin'," he rasped huskily as I pressed myself back against him. "Mmmm."

"Mornin' baby," I murmured, turning over to greet him properly. He looked sleepy and bed haggard but the desire in his dark brown eyes lit a flame under my skin like nothing else.

Taking a second to look around, I noticed that we seemed to be all alone in the room this morning and I had to wonder if it was really that late or if Ricky was just being nice and giving us alone time—though, I highly doubted it was the last one.

Shane wasted no time settling in between my legs and kissing me thoroughly. He was being tender and sweet this morning, seductively suckling each lip before moving onto another uncharted, not yet kissed swath of flesh on the underbelly of my jaw.

As his teeth grazed the tender, soft skin my hands flew to his belt without thinking, praying that we wouldn't be interrupted. He gasped loudly when I unzipped his pants and his heavy thickness sprung free…he was so hard and ready for me, already leaking pre-cum at the head.

Running a hand experimentally down over his tight shoulders and sculpted arms, I had to marvel at beauty of his body. He was so different from most of the men I had ever dated—while he was similarly tall—he was thick and powerful instead of skinny and soft. Instead of sweet and slow, he was so aggressive and passionate when making love that it threatened to steal the very breath from my body.

When my hands met the hard plains of his lower abdomen he hissed and groaned, bucking his hips upwards into my body. "God Birdie…I _**need**_ you, baby."

My only reply was to moan and grab hold of his hard phallus, pumping soft and slow at first until he bucked again. Fighting back a moan of pure wanton desire, I gripped him tighter, pumping my fist around his engorged manhood faster—harder.

He growled into my mouth, biting my bottom lip as he expertly palmed my breast; his fingers teasing the taught peeks trapped within the confines of my lace bra and cotton shirt. The sensation of the different fabrics running across each pierced nipple was enough to nearly send me over the edge, and I struggled furiously trying to get undressed. As much as I would love to spend the day, lounging naked and exploring, I knew this wasn't the time to worry about taking off all our clothes, so I just pushed his pants down as far as they would go and shimmed out of my cotton shorts and underwear.

"Christ! _**Fuck**_!" He exclaimed in a low, desire-harsh voice as he entered me, giving a few experimental thrusts before rocking into me fast and without abandon.

"You feel so fuckin' good, oh fuck, baby…" he continued, knowing I loved it when he talked.

"Yer so _wet_…so fuckin' wet. Is it for me, baby? Are. You. _Drippin' honey_. For. Me?" He asked, punctuating each word with a hard and solid thrust.

"Yes," I hissed, the fingers of one hand digging into his back while the other tugged on the course ink colored locks of his hair. "Fuck yes, it's for you."

"Goddamn right," he growled, fucking me even harder than before. "Always _**mine**_."

"I'm gonna cum, Shane." I warned, feeling that familiar coiling in my belly, knowing I was near the end.

"Yeah baby, cum for me. I wanna _feel it_, baby." He demanded, his hand snaking in between us so he could manipulate the piercing that would stimulate my clitoris.

Feeling the surge of adrenaline coursing through my veins, I threw my head forward, my blunt teeth clamping down around the tight muscles of Shane's shoulder to muffle my scream.

He cried out, low and horse as my body tightened around his, milking him. He increased his speed. "Fuck, Birdie…fuck, fuck, fuck! Oh yeah, oh yeah…"

He lurched forward, his mouth claiming my own as he gave another hard thrust and then several slower ones to calm himself.

"Mmmm…" he chuckled. "Don't think I'll ever get tired of doin' that."

"I'd be disappointed and worried if you did." I told him cheekily, wiping the sweat from his brow as he smiled dopily down at me. "I love you, baby."

"Mmmm, I love you, too…"

Suddenly the door creaked open and…

"Hey guys, Rick says… Oh shit! Sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Please don't kill me!" Glenn exclaimed he stood in the doorway like a deer caught in the headlights.

Shane was still between my legs, the sheets pooled around his waist and I think for the first time since I started having sex—I was glad I wasn't topless. I'd never be able to look Glenn in the eyes again as it was, I could only imagine my embarrassment if I was actually naked in front of him. Is it terrible that all I could think was—_thank God it isn't Rick or Daryl_?

Shane's head jerked around and I swear on all that is Holy that the man actually growled at the kid. **Growled**—as in _growling_… like: A tiger, or a bear… or a…

"What the **fuck**, man…don't you knock?" Shane snarled, pulling the covers up around me.

"I'm so, so sorry!" Glenn exclaimed again, his eyes not moving from my blushing body…it was almost like he couldn't. Like he was fly stuck in a spider's web; he couldn't look away.

"Get out!" Shane yelled, finally startling the poor boy into motion. Though, Shane's shouting gained far more attention than just Glenn's.

Before I could even think about becoming mortified, my brother shoved his way into the room, along with Daryl and Lori. Kill me now!

"Oh my God," I screamed, pulling Shane closer to cover me. "What is this, a fuckin' social convention?…Get out!"

Ricky looked just like Glenn, mortified and ready to pull his own eyeballs out…_Yeah, now you know how it feels, brother._ But Lori looked ready to burst into laughter—which she did seconds later. And Daryl looked like he might get sick…or possibly, he was pissed off. Didn't know…didn't care…

Lori—Bless her bitchy heart—shuffled the men from the room, laughing the entire way. But Ricky stopped just short of the door, his hand still shielding his eyes—_yeah, like you're nothing but a sweet virgin_—and said, "Alright kid's we need to get going soon." He then muttered "Oh God," and left in a hasty retreat.

As soon as the door shut, Shane started laughing so hard I was worried he might crack a rib.

"This is not funny!" I hissed, smacking his chest as he pulled himself off me.

"Come on, Birdie," he laughed, grasping one of my wrists and pulling me to my feet. "I'm not laughing at you, baby…" the bastard was still laughing. "Did you…did you see…see your brother's face…"

"Shut-up fool and get dressed."

We were met my mostly amused faces when we stepped out of the hotel room that morning, though not all were welcoming. Andrea looked sour, but I guess I shouldn't judge—the woman had just tried to kill herself the day before. Daryl on the other hand—he didn't look pissed but he was disconnected, distant and totally ignoring me.

Since Shane had ditched his jeep at the CDC, he had become a permanent resident of Angel's—not that I or Trusty minded in the slightest. We also gained two more passengers. Carl and Sophia both gave impressive puppy dog eyes this morning before we pulled out, both wanting to ride in the "Big Rig" with Uncle Shane and Aunt Birdie. Carol and Lori just looked tickled pink—Bitches—because somewhere in the back of their minds I knew they somehow knew what I had planned for today.

Thankfully, the kids decided that Aunt Birdie's truck wasn't as much fun as they thought it was gonna be or some such nonsense and ended up back in the motor home during our last pit stop.

"What are ya thinking about, all alone, over there?" Shane asked from the driver seat, his eyebrows waggling accordingly.

"None of yer business." I told him, stretching my bare legs out in front of me.

"Birdie," Shane warned as I cracked my toes on the windshield, bending then downward while I smiled and licked my lips, giggling when he growled at me.

Even though I couldn't see his eyes behind the dark aviator sunglasses he wore, I could tell his eyes were locked on the exposed pale expanses of flesh that was stretched out before him.

"See somethin' ya like, stud?" I asked cheekily, feigning innocence as I stretched my body backwards in a relaxed pose, throwing my arms behind my head.

"Stud?" He asked, laughing, but he nodded his head. "Hell yeah, I see somethin' I like."

"What? This?" I asked as I leaned forward, trailing a finger upward along the smooth bare skin of my thigh. Even with the glasses still in place, I could feel Shane's eyes—like fire—following every inch. "Is this what you like?"

He nodded, yanking the glasses off his face. "Higher." He said in a voice raspy and dark with desire.

"Like this?" I asked, trailing my fingertips higher, dipping them under the frayed ends of my denim shorts.

"Higher." He hissed his voice gravely as his hands gripped the wheel of Angel so tightly his knuckles were white.

Uncrossing my ankles, I spread my legs, moaning softly at the friction of the plastic under my feet as I slid them across the sun-warmed dashboard. Biting the corner of my lips, I lowered my lashes as peeked a glance at Shane out of the corner of my eyes and grinned like a mad woman when my eyes fell on the thick member bulging in his pants.

Spreading my legs wider, I ran a hand up over my denim covered crotch, "Here?"

"Yeah baby," he whispered, shifting in his seat and slipping one hand from the wheel to shift his heavy erection in his pants.

"_Shane, Birdie, ya'll read me? Comeback…" _My brother's voice filtered through the CB.

Shane sighed loudly, running his hand over his face tiredly before snatching mic from its cradle. "Impeccable timin' as always, Magoo. What's the word? Comeback…"

"_What did I inter—oh …never mind. Dale says there's a jam in the road up ahead a ways…Semi overturned. We're gonna have to stop…clear it out. Copy that?"_

"Yeah," Shane replied, cutting his eyes over to me. "Yeah, were runnin' low on water and fuel, too… maybe we can scavenge some?"

It was then that I noticed that for the past half mile or so we had decreased our speed by nearly half. At first I thought it was because Shane wanted us to have some privacy, but I guess it was because the others were tryin' to figure out whether or not we should just turn around and find another route.

"Yeah, 10-4, Over." Shane said, replying to something Ricky had said before he hung up the mic and turned to look at me as we rolled to a stop.

"Well darlin', it looks like playtimes over…for now." He said, pulling his dark colored police cap low over his eyes and winked at me saucily.

_Why that dirty, meatball lovin', cheatin'…evil…_

Fine, two could play at this game.

As he cut the engine I grabbed a couple of empty packs and threw on my pull on boots—a birthday present from Shane last year—he said I needed to remember my roots in the big city.

Now, pulling on a pair of simple brown cowgirl boots might not seem like the sexiest thing I could do to taunt my man, but it certainly added to the Daisy-Duke look I had goin' on…and Shane _**loved**_ The Dukes of Hazzard. Between the light-wash, frayed denim shorts and barely there tank-top I was wearing—Daisy Duke herself could eat her heart out.

"Mmmm, baby, you don't know how bad I wanna fuck you when you wear those." Shane said suddenly, startling me out of my thoughts.

He was eyeing me hungrily from where he stood below me, holding my door open.

When did that happen?

"Why?" I asked cheekily, smiling as I stepped down into his arms. "Because they're cowgirl boots or because you bought'em?"

"Both," he replied as he lifted me into the air, kissing me once before setting me down on my feet. With a smile firmly in place, I started to walk away, sashaying my hips seductively as I could.

"Wait…Birdie, you're not goin' up there like that are you?" He asked fretfully.

I looked down at myself, inspecting my attire with feigned nonchalance—I knew damn well what I looked like and who it was Shane didn't want seeing me like this.

He blanched, all cute and spluttering. "'Cause…" He paused, not having probable cause to say anything about the way I was dressed, it was hotter than the Devil's Jacuzzi out here and he knew it.

All of a sudden I could see the light-bulb click on inside his head…my baby was having an Ah-ha moment. "'Cause," he said seductively as he used his large hand to skim the tops of the delicate, pale skin of my shoulders. "We wouldn't want to burn any of this Sexy. Milky. Skin. Would we?"

_Oh, dear God… No, fight back, Birdie, fight back!_

"Whatever you say, Cowboy." I purred, running my hands along his chest before I quickly stole the ball-cap off his head and plunked down onto mind. "I wouldn't want to burn my face."

"Come on, Trusty." He grumbled, grabbing my hand as I laughed and followed him away from the rig.

The gang was all gathered around the R.V. when we made our way up to the front of the convoy. Smoke or steam was pouring out from under the hood and Dale already had the front grate off and was muttering angrily.

Lori greeted with a sly smile and whispered, "What have you two been up to?"

Carl just shot straight past me running up to Shane and Trusty with his mouth running a mile a minute. I looked at Shane with a raised brow but he just winked.

When I turned back around, Lori was standing there, waiting, with her arms crossed under her breasts. "Nothing!" I hissed, throwing my arms up in exasperation.

"_Nothing?" _She teased, mocking me in a high childish voice.

Swatting at her with my hand we walked over to the R.V. in time to hear Dale grumbling. "I said it, didn't I say it. Said it a thousand times."

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked, his shotgun slung over his shoulder as he eyed the beast in front of him warily.

Dale looked at Shane exasperatedly. "Oh," he said shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. "Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of…" he trailed off, looking at the carnage of abandoned family cars, vans and large trucks. "Okay, that was dumb."

"Can't find a radiator hose here?" Shane asked sarcastically, looking back at Dale from over his shoulder, but he hissed and winched when I elbowed him in the stomach for being such a prick. It was no big secret that those two got under each other's skin, but this was no time to be petty.

"There's all kinds of survival supplies to be found here," I said, poking around in the back of a minivan and was followed by Daryl who began to rummage with me. I guess he wasn't ignoring me anymore.

"Siphon more fuel too," T-dog said with a smile, "We can't all be cool enough to be pullin' our gas station along with us."

"That's because I have brain, Mr. Dog." I said smiling, but didn't turn around to see his reaction.

"Nice ass, too." I heard Daryl mutter next to me. I laughed and nudged his shoulder, calling him an asshat.

"We good, Daryl?" I asked, cutting my eyes over to him to find the stunning color of his baby blue orbs already staring back at me.

"Wasn't ever mad at you, so yeah, we're good." He said with a shrug, I didn't understand what he meant by that, but Daryl Dixon wasn't exactly the type of man to sit down and share his feelings. So, I took what I got and was glad that we still seemed to be, well friends, I guess. Yeah, Dixon and I were friends.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary: **

Part 2 of the Lil' Bird Series. With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*

**Warning: **This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

**Pairing: **Shane & Birdie Walsh

**Chapter Three**

"This place is a graveyard." Lori said, sounding a little spooked. "I don't know how I feel about this."

Now that stopped me. Daryl and I had discussed this when we were scavenging before the CDC, we knew that there would be someone not on board with this, but I just never expected it to be Lori. She was a smart woman and I usually respected what she said…but what she was saying right now was naïve.

Daryl scoffed next to me and turned around. "The whole world's a graveyard now, lady. Either you survive or you die."

"Daryl," I hissed, smacking his arm. "Some tact, please."

Shane looked over at me, his eyes pleading with me to make her understand. "Come on ya'll. Let's have a look around, grab what ya can."

"Come on, Lori," I said, pulling her away from the others so we could speak in private. "Lori, these people are dead or long gone…but we're not and we're gonna need some things to get by if we're ever gonna make it to Fort Benning. Carl and Sophia are gonna need clothes, water, food, medicine. We've gotta be smart now, not moral."

She nodded her head, brushing a few stray tears from her eyes. I noticed that she had been very hormonal today already. Hmm, must be that time of the month. In this world, where the dead are eating the living and are highly drawn to blood, I was glad I didn't have to worry about that anymore.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Oh, I know I'm right, just look at me." I told her, spinning around and shaking my ass in her face.

She snorted, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "Yeah, right. Anyway, Shane seems…_**tense**_, maybe even a little _**frustrated**_."

I laughed outright. "Yeah, I may have teased him just a little in the truck—

"And Rick interrupted." She finished for me, shaking her head at me. "I swear you two are something else. I can only imagine what you'd be like if you had hooked up as teenagers…"

"Yeah well, I don't think Rick's quiet ready to entertain that nightmare." I told her. "Shane has always been…active."

"Doesn't surprise me." She commented offhandedly as we made our way back to the caravan of people starting to rummage through the abandon cars. "So you're married now."

I shrugged. "As married as I can be without a minister, not that I would have wanted one anyway. In our eyes, we're as married as you and Rick."

She nodded. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks."

"So, what's he like in bed?"

"Lori!" I exclaimed, never in a million years did I expect that question to pop out of her mouth.

"What?" She defended, crossing her arms. "I may be married to your brother but I'm not blind, Birdie."

Blushing like a mad woman, I ducked my head. "He's…intense."

"Intense?" Lori asked with a little laugh.

"He's just so…passionate. That's really the only word I can use to describe him. I mean... I mean, I knew goin' into this that he was an experienced lover, but I never imagined…"

She laughed hard this time. "You don't have to explain, I get it."

When we made our way back to the rest of the group, Ricky was standing in the middle of the group, claiming everyone's attention.

"Split into groups, I don't want anyone off by themselves. Grab whatever you feel can be useful."

"Stay close, baby." Shane mumbled into the top of my head, before leaning down and kissing my temple. "Don't go off by yourself, ya hear?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'll be careful."

Everyone split apart—except Andrea and Ed—who elected to stay in the motor home, big surprise there. So, Carol, Lori and I all started for the vehicles with Carl and Sophia. Daryl and T-dog went to siphon more fuel, while Glenn, Dale, Rick and Shane all stayed close to the R.V.

The first couple of cars we checked were a bust, either they were covered in gore or still had bodies in them. But after a few tries we started to find things.

Carol was in the back of a gray station wagon, holding a red blouse to her chest and I smiled at her until her eyes met with something behind me and she dropped it, looking down in shame.

Turning around, I was met with Lori's gaze and she looked a little remorseful. I quirked an eyebrow at her and she shrugged her shoulders in apology as Carol began to speak.

"Ed never lets me wear nice things like this," Carol stated, clearly embarrassed. "We'll need clothes."

"Carl," Lori called to my nephew as he began to wander… "Always within my sights."

"You too, Sophia." Carol tacked on.

"I'll stay with them." I called over my shoulder as I chased down the wandering duo. It was the least I could do, and admittedly, hanging out with the kids would get me away from the Ms. High n' Mighty act that Lori seemed to be on today. What the hell was with her, anyway? I've known Lori a long time and she never acted like she was better than anybody before.

In the small time that we had foraged we had actually acquired some fairly useful and much needed supplies. I found a few pairs of jeans that fit—which was godsend, because I was down to one pair and I knew without a doubt that I'd never fit into Lori's—that woman was built like a stick—and I'd rather shoot myself in the foot than ask Andrea. We also came across a few suitcases worth of clothes that would fit Carl and Sophia and something's to fit Rick and Shane as well. Shane wasn't hard up for clothes…but Ricky, he seriously needed to get out of that uniform.

I also came across a vehicle with the license plate that read M.D., it was a goldmine. Bandages, disinfectants, suture kit…despite the lack of antibiotics it was like a perfect first aid kit.

"Hey Aunt Birdie," Carl said as he wandered over from a black Ford next to me. "Dad's trying to get your attention."

I turned around and immediately saw Ricky waving his hands in the air like a mad man. He was mouthing something to me that I couldn't understand, but then he started pointing to the undercarriages of the cars. What the hell?

It didn't take long to figure out what he was freaking out about. Walkers…a horde of them were making their way straight to us.

"_Shit_," I hissed lowly, grabbing my pistol from my side and checking the clip before sliding one into the chamber. "Get under the car. Now!"

Carl got under first followed by Sophia.

I threw Trusty up into a rig and told him to lay down. He did as he was told, curling down into the floorboards of the truck we were under. "Stay quiet boy."

Then the walkers came…a never ending parade of walkers. Carl was white as a sheet and panting heavily but the kid never made a sound…I was so proud of him. Sophia on the other hand was something else entirely. Every time one would get close she would try and make a run for it. After a few tries, I ended up clamping a hand over her mouth and pressing most of my body to hers to keep her quiet. I felt terrible having to do her like that, and I hoped Carol—who was watching us intently from underneath an SUV a few car lengths down—wouldn't be too mad at me. I had quite a grip on her daughter and if she kept struggling the way she was, she was gonna bruise somethin' fierce.

Lori, I noticed seemed to have just about the same hold on the girl's mother and I could only imagine what would have happened had it been the both of them together under one vehicle. I hate to say it, but they would have been walker bait.

"Help me! Oh God! **Help me**!" Sophia jerked in my arms as Ed's voice carried over the groaning and shuffling of feet. She tried to get up, but I wasn't having it. I gripped her tighter, even with her sharp little nails digging into my skin—God, I hope she's not drawing blood.

I looked to my left and saw Ed leaping over the guard rail, two walkers on his heals as he disappeared into the forest. My brother leapt over next and I wanted to scream! Why would he risk himself like this…again?

"_Stop it_," I hissed lowly into Sophia's ear as she struggled, and scratched at my arms. She even tried to bite me once and I promised myself if she did, that I wouldn't be angry. She was terrified and she just saw her father being chased by walkers.

_She's a little girl, Birdie… She's just a scared little girl. _

Yeah, little girl or not, she had claws like razor wire and she was tearing up my arms.

As the last walker passed, she tried again to bite me as she struggled to free herself from my body. Again I hissed into her ear, _"We're gonna wait!" _

It was a flurry of confusion as everyone emerged from their hiding places. I had to say that I was both relived and ready to be parted from the terrified little girl who had almost gotten us all killed.

Sophia raced to her mother and they embraced, both crying as I released Trusty from his hiding spot. "You alright, boy?" I asked, scratching his ear.

His only reply was to lick me. _Wonderful_; dog slobber.

"Are you okay?" Carol cried tearfully.

"Carol, I'm so sorry if I hurt her…she—

"No," Carol interrupted, shaking her head. "You saved her…if it wasn't for you, I just don't know…"

"Jesus Birdie, you're arm." Shane growled, appearing out of nowhere, rushing forward to examine it.

"What happened, were you scratched?" Lori asked as she struggled to remove her shirt and tie it around my right arm.

"Yeah," I laughed, "By a little Sophia monster." I said, looking at the little girl who ducked her head sheepishly. "It's alright, Sophia, I understand."

"Aunt Birdie saved us." Carl announced proudly to Shane—who laughed even though he didn't look amused in the slightest.

"Yeah, your Aunt Birdie is good like that, ain't she?"

"What happened?" He asked, looking to Lori. "Where's Rick?"

She shook her head and replied in a tone that promised my big brother was gonna be in trouble when he returned. "He went after Ed."

"Lori, I'm so sorry for—

Lori shook her head again, this time cutting off Carol's apology because apparently I wasn't the only one who knew it wasn't Carol's fault she was married to a spineless coward. Shane however, did not share our sentiments.

"Goddamnit," he growled, throwing his arms into the air in exasperation. "That's the second time he's run off like a little Bi—

"Shane!" Lori snapped, leveling my husband with a glare that had me shaking in my boots. Lori might have been a stick skinny little waif of a woman, but she could be downright terrifying when she wanted to be.

Shane glowered back at her, swearing under his breath, but he didn't finish calling Ed a little Bitch either.

Just as Lori finished tying off the checkered scraps of her shirt around my still bleeding arm, Ricky came out of the trees soaking wet and looking drained. Ed was not with him.

Lori rushed forward, jumping the guard rail and into my brother's arms just as I heard Glenn exclaim, "Holy shit!" from behind me. "What happened to you?"

Whirling around, I came face to face with Daryl and T-dog, both looking worse for wear, but T looked terrible. He was completely covered in blood and holding a rag over his arm much in the same fashion that I was holding Lori's shirt over mine.

Breaking out of Shane's hold on me, I jogged to his side. "Let me see." I told him, dropping my pack to the ground and digging through it to find the medical supplies I pilfered earlier.

Pulling the wad of cloth from his skin, I nearly shirked when a spurt of blood shot passed me, nearly missing squirting me in the face. Oh dear God.

"Jesus," I said quietly, looking at the horrifyingly wide cut that nearly extended from T-dog's wrist to his elbow. "We need to get this cleaned out and stitched…now."

"You know what yer doin', Red?" Daryl asked me, eying the cut on T's arm with his nose turned up a little as he crouched and scratched at Trusty's neck.

Sighing a little, I ignored the new nick-name and grabbed the suture kit from my pack and a handful of antiseptic wipes. This was not the way I wanted to do this, but I didn't have much of a choice either.

"Daryl, I grew up with two boys who were always getting hurt, I've got him. Do me a favor will you and go see what the situation is with Ed?" I asked, ignoring the confused look on his face as I removed the shirt from T-dog's arm.

He nodded and wondered off a second later as I helped T-dog into a sitting position on the ground in front of the R.V. It would have been easier to just do it inside, but the thought of adding any more gore to the inside of that motor home made me physically sick to my stomach. Not to mention I had just watched Shane and Glenn hauling the dead body of a walker out the side door a few seconds before. Apparently, Andrea had manned up and killed a walker herself, despite Ed running off and leaving her for dead.

_Good for her, _I thought truthfully to myself. I was glad she had snapped out of her funk and defended herself. It meant she wanted to live.

Andrea popped her head out a few minutes later, looking at T-dog with a horrified face. "Can I do anything to help?" She asked, genuine concern coloring her voice.

"Yes," I told her as nicely as I could. We were both adults after all; we should be able to get along in situations like these. "I need any clean towels you can find and some tweezers. Then I'm gonna need your help holding him still while I look for glass shards before I stitch him up."

She nodded and disappeared back into the motor home as Dale came around to fill us in on what was going on with the rest of the group.

"How's he doing?" He asked, looking down on T-dog with concern.

"He'll be better after I get him sewn up and some Tylenol into him…I wish I had some antibiotics but…we'll just have to keep the cut clean and make do with what we've got."

Dale nodded, looking thoughtful. "Yeah, I suppose we must. Daryl, Glenn, Rick and your husband have gone back in to look for Ed. Rick said that they got separated and that Ed must have gotten lost. They took Trusty with them."

"Hopefully, he got eaten." Andrea said with a sneer as she stepped back out of the motor home with the things I had asked her to fetch me.

T-dog and I laughed while Dale looked at her reproachfully.

"What?" She defended, "he's a bastard and a bigger liability than a child."

For once, I agreed with Andrea whole-heartedly.

* * *

Not long after I got T patched up did Shane and Glenn emerged from the forest, both looking a little down.

"What happened?" I asked, running up to Shane and embracing him.

"Where's Ricky? Trusty?" I asked at the same time Carol went racing forward. "Where's my husband."

"Nobody panic," he told us, but we all knew he was speaking to Lori and Carol. "Ed must'a gotten lost, he veered off the trail, Daryl's trackin' him now. I figured I'd leave Tru with them."

She nodded, fat tears streaming down her face as she held her little girl to her. "Oh, Ed." She cried mournfully.

Shane looked at her like she was crazy and I could tell for the good of the group he was biting his tongue so he wouldn't say something to hurt Carol's feelings. Hell, I think we all were. It may have been wrong to judge one man's life against another…but as far as I was concerned, Daryl and my brother equaled ten of Ed…if not a hundred.

Soon after, Shane had us all put to a task. Dale was still working to fix the R.V. with a radiator hose that Glenn had found. Andrea was helping me and Shane move the wreckage of cars using other vehicles and the Semi—which was unloaded to help better maneuver through the mess of twisted metal. Lori was with Carl and Sophia foraging through more cars with Glenn and T-dog was made to go lie down.

As Andrea and I made our way back to the R.V. for a drink of water, Carol approached Dale.

"Why aren't we all out there lookin'? Why are we movin' cars?" She asked, looking a little pissed off at the new arrangements.

Dale looked at her with a slight frown. "Well, we have to clear out enough cars so Birdie and I can get the Semi and R.V. turned around. I'm almost out of fuel, we need to double back to a bi-pass Glenn found on the map."

Shane who had been pushing a Navigator out of the road, jumped out of Carol's Cherokee—shotgun in hand—and pulling up his pants.

"Turning around'll be easier than tryin' to get through this mess." He commented offhandedly. God, he was filthy.

"We're not goin' anywhere until my husband gets back." Carol snapped quietly.

The urge to tongue lash her was strong. I didn't like the way she was sneering at everyone but the fact that her blame seemed to be placed on my brother—and by default—Shane, Lori and myself really pissed me off. Her husband—Mr. Macho—was the one who decided to run and leave Andrea behind instead of fighting for himself, so I really didn't feel all that bad about Ed disappearing. Andrea was right earlier when she said that Ed was more of a liability than a small child.

* * *

**~ Author's Note ~**

First things first…I just wanted to thank all of you for the outstanding response I've gotten from just two chapters. I am in no means a review slut, but it's nice to know what's going on in the minds of my readers every now and then.

Secondly, I want to apologize for the late update, but I will warn you now…until the end of White Tail season I may not update everyday like I did with Lil' Bird (Ya'll got lucky that I was sick for the first few days.) But after the first of December everything will be back the way it was before.

Shout-outs~: **Leyshla Gisel**, **DamonSalvetorLover789**, **Little Black Earrings**, **ThereAre666Ways2Love**, **Paperlanterns86** and **angellic dragon**.

Thank you all for your support.

LittleRin26


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary: **

Part 2 of the Lil' Bird Series. With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*

**Warning: **This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

**Pairing: **Shane & Birdie Walsh

**Chapter Four**

"That goes without saying." Lori chimed in, patting Carol awkwardly on the shoulder as she appeared with a crate full of canned goods. It was an especially awkward situation since I knew that Lori really wanted to shake some sense into the woman; it was written all over her face.

"Rick and Daryl are on it," Shane interrupted, looking at Carol the same way Lori had—like he wanted to throttle her—but he did his best impression of the concerned police officer as he slung a big sweaty arm over my shoulder. "It'll only be a matter of time."

"Ew," I told him, my nose wrinkling in distaste. "You're disgustin'."

"Ya'know you love that man smell, darlin'." He told me at a whisper as he ducked his head to kiss the bare skin behind my ear.

Lori looked like she wanted to laugh, and amazingly so did Andrea, but the serious look on Carol's face had us all biting our cheeks to hold it in. I guess it was in bad taste to be flirting with my husband while Carol's was probably becoming some walker's lunch.

"Won't be soon enough for me," Andrea commented, tossing me a bottle of water. "I'd like to get out of here before another Herd passes us by…or whatever you call it."

Carol, apparently having enough of us ignoring her, walked back over to the guard rail that Ed had charged over earlier with her arms crossed around her middle.

"Yeah, what was that? All of them just marching along like that?" Glenn asked, not even paying attention to Carol as she walked away.

Shane looked thoughtful for a minute before he smiled at Andrea. "Herd? That sounds about right. We've all seen it before, that night camp got attacked." He said and I pinched his side.

Catching my meaning, Shane cracked his neck and clapped his hands. "All right people, let's get back to it. We've still got plenty to do."

* * *

It was getting hotter as the clouds of the storm broke and the morning sun came out in full shine. I felt like I was cooking—literally and it was only mid-morning.

I was in the middle of helping Shane fix up an ugly green Hyundai—he said it was for us to have another vehicle to use when we found another camp. It was a really good idea, but I hated the thought of us being separated again—even if we were just driving.

Carl's shriek met my ears a minute later and Lori—who had been raiding a blue minivan—came racing from the back as Carl and Sophia ran up screaming. "Uncle Shane—

"Carl, what happened?" She yelled.

"Mom, we found something cool." He said proudly through a rolled up black bag at Shane's feet. "See, check it out."

To all our surprised, Carl unraveled the back to show us a set of loggers tools. It had a little bit of everything; a hatchet, several wicked looking knives and a shining black axe. I was impressed. Lori, however, was not.

"It's an arsenal." Carl exclaimed proudly, obviously trying to impress his Uncle, his face flushed red from exertion. Damn kid was too much sometimes.

"That good, Carl, why don't you give them to Dale?" I told him as I saw the angry scowl on Lori's face as she glared at me.

What did she want? He was boy…boys were curious by nature and if she didn't want him getting into trouble she should have been watching him more closely. I loved my little Grimes more than life itself, but I wasn't his mother and Lori shouldn't expect me to always be there to keep him out of trouble.

"Check this one out, Aunt Birdie. Whoa, it's a hatchet." He stated, looking at the sharp blade in awe.

"Carl, put that down, they're sharp." Lori commanded, but little Grimes wasn't paying her any mind.

"Yeah," he continued to ramble. "They're _**really **_sharp."

"Carl, what did I just say?" She scolded and I fought the urge to laugh.

"Can I keep one?" He asked, looking a Lori with those fabulous puppy dog eyes.

Shane snorted from under the hood of the SUV and discreetly as I could, I reached over and pinched his ass. His head shot up, smacking hard against the carbon fiber off the hood as he growled, "_Birdie_…"

"Are you crazy?" Lori asked, bending to retrieve the dangerous object from her son.

Carl jerked away, turning to Shane for help. "Uncle Shane, tell her to let me keep it."

This time I snorted, covering my mouth with my hand as Shane looked at Carl with surprise, immediately throwing his hands in the air as he surrendered to Lori's murderous glare.

"Oh no, big man. I ain't gettin' in the middle of this. You're on your own." He laughed.

Carl looked like he was gonna protest and turn this into a big fight. "Go on and do what you're Aunt Birdie tells you. Go on, now get." Shane told him, swatting his butt as he passed.

* * *

"Where's my gun?" Andrea asked Dale as Shane and I worked with Glenn, T-dog, Lori, Carl and Sophia to get our found provisions in order. "You had no right to take it."

He muttered something lowly in reply, but whatever he said only seemed to piss Andrea off even more. I could kind of understand her anger at the old man. It was her gun—her protection, but I could also see why Dale would be afraid to let her have it. Andrea—for whatever else I thought about her—she was a loose cannon. A loose cannon who had just tried to kill herself yesterday.

"My father gave it to me, it's mine." She stated lowly, her eyes narrowing in anger.

Again, Dale muttered something quietly but Andrea wasn't having it.

"Shane," I whispered quietly, coming up behind him to lay a hand on his shoulder. "I think we've got trouble."

He looked up, his eyes immediately narrowing at the concern on my face. "What is it, baby?" I cut my eyes to the argument blooming between Dale and Andrea.

He followed my line of sight and sighed. "I'll take care of it."

"Everythin' cool?" Shane asked, running a hand across the back of his dirty neck.

"No," she replied with a scoff. "I want my gun back."

"I don't think it's a good idea." Dale interrupted, turning his back on Shane as he continued to fiddle with the guts of his R.V.

Shane sighed, "Why not?"

"I'm not comfortable with it." Dale said pointedly, looking at Shane with a pleading look and Andrea scoffed, shaking her head.

Now I almost felt bad for getting him involved. I knew Shane well and he wouldn't allow Andrea to be running around in a deranged mentality with a loaded gun near his family. He was about to become the bad guy.

"Truth is," Shane said, looking like he'd rather shoot himself in the foot than have to pull this card. "…the less guns we have floatin' around camp, the better."

"You gonna give up your weapon?" Andrea asked condescendingly. "What about your pretty little wife. Does she get to keep her gun?"

Shane laughed humorlessly, shaking his head and leveling the blond with a glare. "Naw," he said with a chuckle. "But I'm trained—

"And your wife? Your pretty little wife?" She asked snottily. Oh welcome back, bitch Andrea.

He looked downright pissed at the comment. "Birdie's certified…has been since she was 10 years old. You didn't even know how to take the safety off until Rick showed you. You need to be properly trained…Hell, you all do. But until that time, I think Dale keeps them all accounted for."

"Wanna tell me what that was all about?" Shane asked Dale as Andrea sneered at him and stormed off.

"Oh good, they're back…" Glenn commented.

It was almost dark when the boys emerged again, dirtier than before and covered in blood. Lori and Carl dashed forward meeting Ricky before he even crossed the guard rail, with me hot on their heels, dropping to my knees instantly to receive a well-deserved slobbery kiss from Trusty.

"Such a good boy," I cooed at him.

"You didn't find him?" Carol asked, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Trail went cold." Ricky told her, climbing over the guard rail. "We'll pick it up again at first light."

Carol started shaking her head as Shane came up behind me, pulling me back to his chest. "You can't leave my husband out there." She cried. "He can't spend the night alone in the woods."

Daryl nodded at me from behind Ricky and then turned to face Carol. "We can't be out there in the dark. We'd just be trippin' over ourselves—

"But Ed…you know he can't be out there by himself. You didn't find anything?" Carol cried frantically. I wanted to snort because I knew damn well it was true. I'm surprised that bastard could survive walking from his sofa to the front door every day.

Ricky looked flustered as he tried to calm the sobbing woman. "I know this is hard but I'm askin' you not to panic. We know that he's out there—

"Yeah, we tracked him for a while." Daryl said, defending my brother. I was oddly touched by the soft way he spoke to Carol…even though he hated Ed.

Ricky nodded, looking to all of us as he spoke. "Now, we have to make this an organized effort…" he rambled on, speaking as though anybody wanted to risk their lives for the man who'd sooner beat on his wife than save her.

Shane's hands were painfully gripping my hips now as his temper started to get the better of him. I knew this was _**not**_ what he was wanting to hear…I knew he wanted us to get back on the road to Fort Benning as soon as possible, not going on a wild goose chase for a man who would probably slit all our throats in our sleep.

"Is that…is that blood." Carol gasped, drawing my attention back to her as she looked at Daryl with a pale face.

Daryl looked down, examining the legs of his Dickies where sure enough, there was a large patch of blood that nearly covered the entire knees of his pants.

Carol started to hyperventilate and Ricky jumped in, trying to calm her. "We took down a walker. There was no sign that it was anywhere near Ed."

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked, looking doubtful and again, I wanted to smack the shit out of her. Why does that woman always seem to ask the most horrible questions when it was obvious that we were trying not to instill panic in the group—or in this case, Carol.

"We cut the som'bitch open," Daryl replied softly as Rick looked to him for help. "Made sure."

Carol looked relieved and Lori moved forward to settle the woman against the guard rain.

"How could you just leave him out there to begin with?" Carol demanded of my brother as she looked to him with hate filled eyes. "How could you just leave him?"

_Excuse the fuck out of me? _

"Look, the walkers were on us. Ed was defenseless…I had to draw them off. I told him to get into a tree…he was gone when I made my way back. It was his best chance."

"Sounds like Rick did everything he could, Carol." Shane said defensively.

"How was he supposed to find his way back?" She cried. And I was about at the end of my tether. "How's he supposed to make it on his own? You left him there!"

"It was my only option." Rick pleaded, looking like he was about to cry right along with her. I was damn near seeing red at this point. She was using guilt against my poor, soft hearted brother so badly he probably wouldn't sleep a wink till that fat prick was found.

"You left my husband in the woods." She cried. "You just left him there."

"Excuse me!" I growled, ripping myself out of Shane's grasped and going to stand shoulder to shoulder with my brother.

She looked shocked to see me standing there, glaring down at her. She had no idea. I didn't take kindly to the way she was speaking to my twin and if we had been in any other situation I would have smashed her face into the pavement like I did to the first girl who broke Ricky's heart. You don't mess with family.

"What?" she gasped, looking taken aback.

Lori looked to me with wide eyes, probably knowing I was about to lose my shit. Shane came up behind me, bracing both hands on my shoulder and cooed, "Calm down, baby," into my ear.

"No." I told him, once again shirking off his hands. "I said 'excuse me'. My brother didn't have to go after your husband to begin with… but you see, he has a really big heart and probably couldn't stand the thought of your face if something happened to that fat-bastard you call your husband. He left his wife and child behind to go lookin' for him. My husband left me to go lookin' for him. Doesn't that mean anythin' to you? You should be grateful we're even botherin', or have you forgotten that your husband hit that same man's sister back at the quarry for trying to save your ass?"

"That's enough, Birdie." Ricky snapped as he grasped my upper arm and pushed me back into Shane's chest.

As Carol continued to cry and carry on, my brother's face fell. He got up a moment later looking haggard and worn and walked away.

"Hope you're happy." I snapped, before I sneered at the woman and stormed after my brother down.

"Ricky," I called out.

He stopped but he didn't turn around. "Ricky, it wasn't your—

"Damn it, Birdine, did you have say all that to her!" He whispered furiously.

Taken back by the anger he seemed to be directing at me, I stumbled backwards—right back into a solid warm wall. Steading myself, I took a step back and craned my neck to look into the furious eyes of my husband. He was glaring at Rick with enough heat to burn us all to ash where we stood.

"Baby," he said, never taking his eyes off on my brother. "You head on back with the others. Get the rig set up for Lori and Carl. I need to have a word with my partner."

I nodded vigorously, and started back to the caravan of camper as I heard Shane start in on Ricky.

"What the fuck is your problem—

* * *

It was well after dark when I saw my brother next. I had put Lori and Carl in the sleeper with Trusty hours ago and had taken sentry with Dale.

Dale and I were in a deep discussion concerning the pro's and con's of tattoos. It had all started innocently enough…I had just taken off my boots and socks to cool my feet when he caught sight of the little black footprint I had near my ankle.

"A footprint?" He had asked in amusement and then commented on the initials under it. "CCG?"

I smiled at the older man. "Carl Chandler Grimes." I told him, rubbing at the little footprint wistfully. "I had it done the week Carl was born. I was shitfaced drunk…Shane took me."

"Drunk?" He asked, looking at me like I was crazy. "Celebrating?"

"In a way, but I was also mourning."

"Mourning?" He asked, not understanding what I was getting at.

"I was in an accident when I was 13…" I sighed, not really understanding why I was telling him this. "Ricky was supposed to be looking after me for the day, but he and Shane were too busy entertaining some of the girls from our class to realize that I was off sulking by myself…

…I had climbed out my bedroom window and onto the 2nd story roof our house. Daddy was building an add-on to the garage…it was just a slab of concrete then. I slipped on a lose shingle and landed on a piece of rebar sticking up out of where the plumbing was supposed to go… I can't have children."

"I'm sorry." Dale said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah," I said sniffling. "Me, too. I always wanted a big family of my own…so when Carl was born it was both a happy day and a slap in the face. I was so happy for my brother and still…so sad…"

"Birdie," my brother said quietly, poking his head over the top of the roof.

Dale smiled at him and nodded to me. "You and Shane mind keepin' watch tonight, I think this old man deserves some shut-eye."

"Of course, Dale." I told him. It's not like Shane and I had any place to sleep anyway.

Rick stepped up on the roof, looking down at his shoes as Dale made his way down the ladder.

It was silent for a few minutes, before I noticed the bruise on Ricky's jaw. "What—

"I'm sorry," He interrupted. "I shouldn't have jumped on you back there…you were just defending me."

I nodded and then pointed to his jaw. "Your face?"

He laughed, rubbing the sore spot. "Your husband makes a powerful argument."

Well, that answers that question. "Yeah," I laughed. "I guess he does."

"I really am sorry, Birdie. It's just… the stress—

"Ricky," I sighed, patting the roof next to me. He sat down and I hugged him to me. "I know you didn't mean nothin' by it…but I've hardly ever seen you angry with me…I mean, I'm used to us arguing, but not you being pissed at me…it scared me."

"Oh God," he cried, hugging me tighter. "I would never…I wasn't even mad at you—

"I know." I told him, rocking him back and forth. "I know."

My brother was a man few could ever hope to live up to. He was generous, self-sacrificing and an all-around good guy. But this was different than being a Sheriff of King County. Lives were on the line here and the stress of leading was tearing him apart. Perhaps he just wasn't cut out for this role.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary: **Part 2 of the Lil' Bird Series. With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*

**Warning: **This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

**Pairing: **Shane & Birdie Walsh

* * *

**~ Author's Note ~**

I've had several PM's from you all with questions regarding Carol behavior in the last chapter and I will undoubtedly be receiving some for this one. One of the questions I've recently received was: Why is Carol even defending Ed?

The entire reason will be explained in later chapters...but, it's mostly because of displaced guilt, loyalty and insecurities. Carol has been living under Ed's reign of terror and manipulation for years...she doesn't know how to act now that he's gone. It's very common behavior in abusive relationships...both mental and physical: many who are abused are afraid to be away from their abuser and it's the main reason so many-women-especially keep returning to their abusive spouses.

Word of warning, Carol will get worse before she gets better. But don't be too sad...I have plans for a Carol love interest in the third installment...and it's not Daryl.

I hope this cleared up any questions you had...

LittleRin26

* * *

**Chapter Five**

The next morning was met with dramatic fanfare. We knew that we'd all be out for the day looking for Carol's husband, but waking up at the crack-ass of dawn after sleeping on the hard roof of Dale R.V. all night didn't exactly put me in a gracious mood. By the look of the scowl on Shane's face when Ricky woke us this morning—I'd say that we were in agreement. Who fuckin' cared about Ed?

"Please remind me why we're doin' this again," I groaned to Shane as we got changed in the sleeper.

It was already blazing hot this morning and I had no desire to put on the jeans I knew I had to wear. Beyond not wanting to be torn alive by mosquitoes, snakes in Georgia were also a very real problem and I had no idea how dense these woods would be.

Shane's muffled laughed followed my complaint as he threw on a black t-shirt, "'Cause your brother thinks he's Wyatt Earp." He replied sarcastically. "Come on, little darlin', let's get this shit over with."

The sun was already high in the sky by the time we made to the convening area around Ed's Cherokee and of course Ricky was already there, giving me and Shane reproachful looks for being the last ones to arrive.

Flipping him the bird, I leaned against the shaded siding of Dale's motor home next to my husband—who kissed the top of my head and sighed, waiting for whatever words of wisdom my brother was sure to spout.

Giving me one last hard stare, Ricky tossed the bag of logging tools onto the hood of the jeep, unraveling it before he began to speak. "Everybody takes a weapon—

Of course before Ricky got a chance to say anything else, Andrea who had been standing next to him, had to interrupt, putting in her two cents. Shane sighed next to me; I guess he knew as well as I did where she was gonna go with this.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need." She said, eying the knives with distaste. "What about the guns?"

Shane growled next to me. "We've been over that. Only Rick, Birdie and I are carryin'. We don't need people poppin' off rounds every time a tree rustles—

And again she interrupted. "It's not the trees I'm worried about."

Peeking at Shane out of the corner of my eye, I could tell he was just about fed up with this argument. His face was clearly exasperated and if Andrea wasn't careful she was gonna get to see the bad side of my husband's temper—and he was gonna end up embarrassing the hell out of her.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment and another herd happens to be passin' by. Then it's game over for all of us. So you just need to get over it." And with that he hoisted his pack onto his back and walked off.

Daryl—who had been snorting into his hand—looked up and decided it was his turn to talk while the rest of us grabbed some form of knife from Carl's "arsenal". I also had my rifle and one of Shane's pistols on my hip. As I checked my ammo count and the sights on my scope I could feel Andrea's eyes burning holes through my skull as Daryl spoke. That woman was gonna be trouble today, I could just feel it.

"The idea is to take the creek up 'bout five miles, turn around and com' back here. Chances are…he'll be by the creek; it's his only landmark."

Ricky nodded to Daryl, patting him on the back before he took the floor once again. "Stay quiet and stay sharp," he told us, looking to each and every one of us. "Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other…

Shane walked back to me, handing me another full clip for my pistol. "You stay close to me out there, baby. You hear me? I want you close at all times."

Stuffing the extra magazine into designated space for extra ammo on my holster, I nodded. "I promise."

"I love you." He told me, kissing my lips sweetly.

"I love you, too."

He smiled at me before turning to the others in our group. "Let's assemble the packs."

Ricky turned towards Dale as Shane grabbed the pack from my back and headed for our provisions that were lined up against an old, white Mustang. "Dale, I need you to get on those repairs. We need to get this R.V. ready to move."

Dale nodded, and wished us luck.

"Keep an eye on Carl while were gone?" Rick asked, patting the old man on the arm.

Apparently though, my little nephew had other ideas and I had to throw a hand over my mouth to hide my smile from my brother. The littlest Grimes sure could spit some good game when it came to expressing his opinions—and I hate to point fingers…but it was my brother that he took after so much. Ricky could sell cow shit to a cattle rancher—even as a child. Big brother had no one to blame for Carl's debate skills but himself.

"Okay…" Ricky sighed. "Alright, but you always stay in our sights, no exceptions."

If I didn't think Ricky would have rung my skinny neck, I would have high-fived Carl for his ingenious attack on my brother's soft conscience; he really was good for a 12 year old.

Even though I didn't get to high-five him, as soon as Ricky's back was turned Dale winked at him and I ruffled his hair. "Come on, smooth talker. Let's go see what Uncle Shane's got for us."

"What was all that about?" Shane asked with a smirk as he looked at Carl. My little nephew looked about as smug as a person could get.

"Oh," I said feigning nonchalance, "our littlest Grimes here just talked Rick out of makin' him stay behind…it was fabulous."

Shane laughed and balled up his fist in the manly bro-code greeting. Carl's grin widened, looking at Shane like he had just given him the Golden Ticket to the Chocolate Factory, and obliged his fist bump.

Not even a second later all of us turned when we heard Dale and Andrea arguing…she was bitching about her gun again.

_Arrrgggghhh_, I growled internally. That woman was already on my last nerve and we hadn't even started searching yet.

Rick and Shane looked over, both of them looking exasperated. Lori just sighed next to me and Carl, well he cracked us all up when he looked up to me and whined. "Again?"

_Yeah, little dude, _I thought to myself with an audible snort, _Again._

By the time she started bitching at Dale for saving her at the CDC, she had everyone's attention even though we were all trying our best not to act like we were paying attention. I heard Daryl mutter "bitch" under his breath as she stormed off, but we all followed, Shane and I taking up the rear.

* * *

We had been walking for probably about fifteen minutes when Carl rushed forward, practically yelling.

"Shane look!" He exclaimed loudly, showing him a small hunting knife. "Dad said I could keep it and Mom—

"Keep it down." Shane snapped. "We're lookin' for Ed…we need to focus on the task."

My eyes widened as Carl looked down at his feet, obviously hurt by the way Shane had jumped on him. My blood was boiling even before Lori caught on and shooed my nephew up towards the front of the line.

"What the fuck was that, Shane!" I hissed at him, all but ready to bash his face in with the butt of my rifle. What the fuck was his problem? He'd been actin' funny since he and Rick fought last night.

He hung his head and breathed deeply. "I'm sorry, Birdie—

"What is wrong with you? He's a little kid and you just jumped all over his ass like that. Does this have somethin' to do with that bruise on my brother's jaw?"

"Look," he said with a sigh. "I said something's last night that I had no business sayin'. He's your brother's kid…not ours. Your brother made that perfectly clear."

"What?" I asked, my eyebrows darting into my hairline with surprise. "What are you talkin' about?"

"He just…" He started, rubbing a hand furiously through his black locks, tugging on them in frustration. "I just told him something's he didn't wanna hear and he got pissed off…told me to stop worryin' so much about his family…because it was his family."

"Jesus baby," I said, walking forward and tugging on his arm to get him to stop. Even as a teenager, I hated it when those two fought…it always ate both of them up so bad. "Why didn't you say anything?"

His eyes narrowed and his lips quirked up into a sly grin, as if to say "really?" He knew better than anybody that if he would have told me that last night, my brother would probably be sporting a matching bruise on the other side of his jaw.

"I'm sorry," I said, pulling him close for a hug. "I'll speak to him about it later."

Warm fingers tilted my chin upwards until I met his dark eyes and he shook his head. "No, babe. Leave it be, it's over now…but I guess I was still pissed. I shouldn't have taken it out on Carl."

"No," I agreed as I reached out of cup his cheek. "No, you shouldn't have, but I'm sure I'll find a way for you to make it up to him."

His nose wrinkled as he groaned. "You're not gonna make me do somethin' embarrasin', are you?"

"Maybe," I told him with a smirk. "Why? You're not gonna go denying your wife the right to watch her husband kissing ass to a 12 year old, are you?"

He shook his head, snorting as he leaned down to capture my lips with his. "Anythin' for you, Mrs. Walsh."

"Mmmm," I told him as we resumed our walk, picking up the pace to catch up with the others. "I like the sound of that."

"Me too," he told me as he took my free hand in his.

A little while later, we came upon a small camp. It was just a tent and some trash in the middle of nowhere…not a soul in sight, but we all crept quietly anyways.

Shane positioned himself in front of me as we drew nearer, halting my movements and I bit my lip as I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his over-protectiveness.

As my brother motioned for us all to get low, Shane walked up behind him, standing tall. "Think she could be in there."

Daryl—who was at the front—started to move forward, still crouching low as he whispered sarcastically. "Could be a whole bunch of things in there."

Rick and Shane followed Daryl as the rest of us held Carol and Sophia back as they both looked like they wanted to charge forward. A few seconds later Ricky called Carol over to the tent and told her to quietly call out to Ed.

No noise was made, but Rick and Shane were both gagging by the entrance—it wasn't a good sign.

"Daryl?" Carol called out in a frightened voice and Lori was forced to renew her grip on Sophia's body.

Daryl said nothing, but emerged from the tent covering his nose and mouth with his forearm. "It ain't him."

Carol and Sophia collectively sighed in relief as Andrea asked the obvious question. "What's in there?"

"Some guy, did what Jenner said…opted out." Daryl said, panting as he checked his crossbow and slung it over his shoulder. "Ain't that what he called it?"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth Shane, Rick and Daryl all jumped to alertness as the sound of bells met our ears. Trusty barked lowly and took off in the direction of the sound and the rest of us started running to follow him.

Trusty already had a good sniff of one of Ed's recently worn shirts…so I had high hopes that Trusty had picked up his scent. After being introduced to another suicide victim…I was more than ready to get the fuck out of these woods.

As we neared the sound it became apparent that it was Church Bells that we were hearing. We all stopped panting for breath.

"Which direction?" Shane asked as the rest of us looked around, trying to get our bearings.

I had a fairly good sense of direction—a gift I had kind of picked up over the years of hunting with my brother and father—but I wasn't one hundred percent sure. A few minutes later Trusty came barreling at of the brush and ran to me, yipping lightly before turning back around and heading in the direction I had first thought.

"This way!" I yelled over my shoulder, taking the lead as I ran to catch up with my boy.

"_**Goddamnit, Birdie**_," I heard Shane growl from behind me as he fought to keep up. Boy, was I gonna tease him for that later. Big bad Papa Walsh—King County's finest—couldn't keep up with his own tiny wife. Oh yeah, go me.

It wasn't long before I could see a light from a clearing up ahead and ended up coming out of the trees in a graveyard. Against the backdrop was an old southern style white chapel that looked like it could have been standing there for a hundred years or better. I skidded to a halt at the first headstone to wait for the others, nearly tripping over Trusty who was still underfoot. Ricky and Shane would have beat my ass blue if I would have continued on without them—apparently Trusty knew this as well.

They emerged behind me a few seconds later, all panting and looking at me with scorn. Ooops, perhaps I should have slowed down back there.

"That can't be it…ain't got no steeple." Shane said as he approached me and grabbed my elbow with a scowl.

I had noticed this as well, but Trusty's nose was rarely wrong. Knowing this, I broke from Shane's grip and started after my bloodhound.

"Birdie—

But I wasn't listening, and neither was my brother as he started out in a run next to me. We ran silently until we reached the red front doors to the **Southern Baptist Church **_of _**Holy Light**. The men took the lead, my brother reaching the doors first followed by Daryl, Shane and Glenn.

"Birdie, stay with the women." Ricky told me in a hushed tone.

I nodded, pushing Carol and Sophia back towards Lori, Carl and Andrea, watching as Ricky hushed the others before pushing the doors open. It had already been my plan to hang back with the women and children seeing as I was the only one of my sex with a loaded weapon.

It was quiet as the rest of us slowly made our way up the concrete steps. The guys were like a wall of protection as they stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking us from whatever they were seeing. Seeing as I was the shortest female among us—other than Sophia, who would probably gain ground on me in a couple of years—I had no choice but to take Lori's horrified gasp as a bad thing as she stared wide eyed over her husband's shoulder.

She still looked terrified as she removed the glisten machete from its sheath and handed it to Ricky, opening a hole just big enough for me to see what was goin' on. Then it was my turn to be sickened. Sitting in the pews like a group of regular Church goers on Sunday morning were three walkers, who instantly turned to stare at us like they were welcoming us to mass. In some disturbing way—I guess they were.

Ricky moved first, taking on the old man in overalls with swing of his blade, followed by Shane and Daryl as they advanced on the other two walkers—taking them out with a relative quickness and ease. I had to admit, our group was getting rather good at this. Though, Lori and I both bit back a snort at Daryl's little dance backwards when the female walker he had slain fell towards him; he looked thoroughly grossed out.

"Ed!" Daryl and Carol started to scream, looking around the room for anywhere tubby might have hidden.

We all trickled in, looking around the room with the same hopeless look. If Ed was here he surely would have run away when he saw the walkers…it was kind of his M.O. and we all knew it.

To me, being in a place of worship was a little awkward. Ricky and Lori attended Church regularly enough, but I hadn't been since I had fallen off that roof—with the exception of Celia's funeral, Rick's wedding and the day Carl was Baptized—and no amount of arguing or begging with my mother would change my mind. It wasn't that I didn't believe in God, I just couldn't stand the pitying stares of our local congregation. Everyone wanted to feel sorry for the little girl who would never bear her husband a child and it pissed me off.

Shane made his way over to me and Rick, "It's gotta be the wrong Church, man…there ain't no steeple—

The loud ringing of Church bells interrupted Shane and I curved the overpowering urge to stick my tongue out at my husband and childishly taunt him with "I told you so." Instead, I hauled ass after the others back outside to try and discern the origins of the bells.

Daryl darted forward through the rest of us, nearly elbowing me in the face as he brushed past me and down the steps. "Watch it, Dixon." I spat, scowling at his backside as he rounded the corner.

My rifle was raised as the rest of us turned the corner of the building and seen Glenn cutting the wires to a power-box.

"Timer," Daryl panted as he turned around to face us, raising his forearm to wipe the sweat from his eyes. "It's on a timer."

Carol was all choked up as she turned to my brother and announced that she was gonna go back in for a bit.

"Birdie, can I talk to you a minute." Ricky asked, as he ruffled Carl's hair and sent him inside with Carol, Sophia and Daryl. "I'll just be a minute."

Even though I knew this wasn't a conversation I wanted to have with him right now, I nodded. "Yeah," I looked to Shane. "I'll be back in a minute."

Shane looked to me, nodding his head before his eyes cut to my brother and narrowed. "Yeah, I'll be inside."

Following Ricky to a shaded area of headstones, I crossed my arms and waited.

"Well?" I asked after a few minutes of tense silence. "What do you want, Ricky?"

"You can't leave." He blurted, his eyes rising up from the ground to meet mine. He looked frantic…desperate, pleading.

I had no fucking idea what he was talking about.

"Excuse me?" I asked, shocked that he would even think that I had it in me to ditch my family. "Ricky, what in the _fuck_ are you talkin' about? You're not makin' any sense."

He bowed his head, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he sighed. "I told you last night that we were good…but, Shane…he said somethin' about leavin', takin' care of his own family—

"Oh, and I wonder why he'd say somethin' like that," I said, surprising myself with the amount of venom coloring my tone. "I wonder why Shane—your best friend—my husband—would think he had to say somethin' like that, huh Ricky? Perhaps it was because he no longer felt welcome—

"Look, I know I said some things that were a little harsh—

"A little harsh!" I growled, pointing a finger in his face. "A little harsh would be callin' him a protective prick…Ricky, you broke his heart. You told him not to worry about _your_ family. We guess what, Big Brother, it is his family. He's my husband and he's been a part of this family for the last 30 years…

"What is wrong with you? Since you came back, you've had your head in the clouds or up Lori's ass—

"Now wait just a goddamn minute—

"No Ricky, I've always listened to you, I've always respected your word, but you're gonna listen to me now. Shane told me some of the things you talked about last night and for the most part, he was right. You gotta stop thinking like a cop and start worrying about what's yours. You gotta stop concerning yourself with everything little thing that happens in this group. Ed is a piece of shit and you know it…and the way you dressed me down yesterday for defending you…God, Ricky, Shane had every right to be pissed off..." I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself so I wouldn't cry, but it was a failed attempt.

"Shane may have a shitty way of expressing his feelings but he was right. Carl, Lori…those two need to be your main priorities in this new life. Jesus, he was just tryin' to help you and you go around sayin' hurtful things like that to him—the man who fought to keep _**your**_ wife and _**your**_ son safe. I have half a mind to smack the shit out of you, Ricky!"

He went to open his mouth—either to apologize or protest I didn't know. Not that I really gave a shit at the moment.

"Save it. We're not leavin'. He said it in anger—I can guarantee it, so save your breath. In fact, don't bother talkin' to me until you get your head on straight…then you can apologize to my husband for whatever idiotic, heartless comment you made."

"Birdie—

"No. Just don't." I told him, brushing off the hand that landed on my shoulder. "Leave me alone, Ricky, or I'll give your jaw a matching set of purple."

With my fire still flowing through my veins, I stormed away…trying to fight back the sting of tears that threatened to engulf me. I wanted to done with this drama…because this bullshit between two of the men I loved most in the world was gonna drive me up the fuckin' wall if I let it…

.

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	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary: ** Part 2 of the Lil' Bird Series. With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*

**Warning: **This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

**Pairing: **Shane & Birdie Walsh

**Chapter Six**

I found Shane sitting in the middle of a pew when I returned to the group, still furiously rubbing my eyes. His eyes crossed over to my face and he did a double take when he saw the fresh tears still screaming down my cheeks. His dark eyes narrowed, zeroing in on my red-rimmed eyes and his mouth curled down into a deep frown.

"What the _fuck_ happened now?" He demanded in a whisper as his rough calloused thumbs began brushing the wetness from my eyes. He was damn murderous as he tried to comfort me, pulling me under his arm and tucking my head into his chest.

His heartbeat was erratic, beating wildly in the pulsing vein at his neck. "What happened, baby?" His tone was softer now, but I could practically hear his teeth grinding in his mouth as he gritted out question after question. "Was it somethin' Rick said?"

I nodded, but was honest when I told him, "I don't wanna talk about it right now."

"Baby, if he said somethin'—

"No," I told him, shaking my head against the soft cotton of his t-shirt. "I just ripped him a new one…please just leave him be. Give him some time to think about everythin'. But we will be discussing this leaving business, later."

"Alright, Birdie, I let it go…for now." He conceded, dropping a kiss to my head as we watched Carol praying to the large statue of Christ who was morbidly covered in walker blood.

It was saddening to watch Carol beat herself up over Ed's disappearance. Did she really believe God was punishing her because she prayed for absolution against the man who had caused her grief and pain for years? I guess this wasn't what she had thought when she had prayed to be delivered from her bondage. If Carol really loved Ed, then in my mind, the woman was a Saint.

"I gotta go see what Rick has planned," Shane said, kissing my temple as he rose. "You gonna wait here with Lori?"

I nodded, but tugged on his hand as he started to walk away. "Please—

"Best behavior," he said with a smirk. "I promise."

"Thank you, baby." I told him, kissing the knuckles of the hand I still held.

He looked down at me, an expression of complete devotion on his face. "I love you."

Shane had told me he loved me in a lot of different ways over the years…friendship, partnership, lovers…but he had never said it quite like he just had. Every single insecurity I had ever had…every doubt…it was gone, lost in the loving tone in which he spoke.

With tears welling back up in my eyes, I replied. "I love you, too, Shane."

Lori met me at the end of my pew a few seconds later; her eyes looked a lot like mine. What the hell was going on around here?

"Lori?" I asked, concerned.

She didn't say anything, but she threw herself at me and embraced me in a hug that almost hurt. "Thank God you're not leaving, I don't know if I could do this without you." She cried.

_Oh Dear Lord, _I thought to myself as the urge to smack my brother senseless burned anew.

"Lori… Shane and I, we're not goin' anywhere." I told her, holding her tightly too me. Man, she acting weird lately.

"I know," she said, pulling back. "I know, I confronted Shane about it…he said he was just angry. What the hell did Rick say to him to piss him off so bad? Is that why he snapped at Carl this mornin'?"

"Yeah," I told her with a sigh, "Look, we need to get out there, but we'll talk about that later…and about whatever it is that's got you actin' like a mad woman."

Her eyes went wide for a second before she schooled her features and pulled a neutral face as she nodded.

We found the boys outside arguing…again, before he patted Ricky on the shoulder stormed towards, rubbing his head and clearing his throat. Lori and I looked up from where we were sitting in the grass with Carl and Sophia as Shane made his announcement.

"Ya'll are gonna follow the creek-bed back," he said, tugging up his loose pants and Lori and I made to stand. "Daryl you're in charge. Rick and I are gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so…just to be thorough."

Daryl looked at Shane and Rick like they were crazy. "Splittin' us up, you sure?"

"Yeah," Shane answered, looking to me. "We'll catch up to you."

"I wanna stay too," Carl piped in and I had to grip Lori's arm when she stumbled at her son's declaration. "I wanna help; like Dad."

Lori looked worried, but she kissed my nephews head and told him to be careful.

"Take Tru with you?" I told them both. Ricky looked up but didn't say anything as Shane asked me if I was sure.

"Yeah," I told him, walking over to the gathered group of Glenn, Andrea, Carol, Sophia and Daryl. "This group already has one bloodhound." I said, playfully smacking Daryl's shoulder.

"Watch it, Red." Daryl growled, and Ricky snorted behind his hand.

Shane didn't look very impressed by the redneck and I keeping up a playful banter, but he could suck it, Daryl and I were friends…and he needed to get over it.

Ricky approached Lori as I made my way to my husband, giving him my best set of puppy eyes that had always made him melt.

"Woman," he growled teasingly as he pulled me too him and swatted my ass. "You'll be the death of me."

"Awe, come on, Papa Walsh, ya know I only have eyes for you." I told him, squeezing his sides.

"It ain't your eyes I'm worried about." He groused into my hair. "Be careful out there…stay close to the sleazy redneck."

I grinned and bit his nipple through his shirt, laughing quietly when he growled. "I promise not to stray from my suitor."

"Birdie," Shane growled lowly into my ear. "If you're not real careful, girl, I'm gonna _**punish**_ you later."

I pulled back from his chest and looked up at him from under my lashes, making sure to give him my most innocent smile. "Promise, Sherriff?"

He looked completely dumbfounded that I was flirting with him like this and I guess he had reason to be shocked. Rick and I were always the quiet ones in school, and I was always the quiet one at home. I didn't even have a boyfriend till the end of junior year and other than that wild…_**wild**_ 21st birthday party, I was always just shy, sweet, innocent little Birdie. My poor husband really didn't have a clue what he had married into.

"Go on, Smart-ass." He swore, kissing me once before pushing me off towards Lori who was excepting a spare gun that Daryl was carrying. Andrea looked ready to spit nails by this point.

She could go fuck herself. Lori was a crack shot and though she wasn't currently certified, she had been trained and at least knew how to turn the fuckin' safety off.

"Trusty," I called out, snorting a bit when he tripped over his own ears as he climbed to his feet. "You go with Papa Walsh. Be good, boy." I bent down kissing him on the top of his stinky head and got a nice slobbery kiss in return before I turned and ran to catch up with the others.

I really didn't like the idea of splitting up any more than Lori or Shane did, but I could only pray that we found Ed quickly before anything else bad happened.

* * *

We had only been walking a little ways when Carol dropped down onto a felled tree and started bitching once more. I really enjoyed Carol's company on most days…but since Ed had gone missing she had turned into this…different person, and whoever she was now was grating on the already overly sensitive nerves that Andrea had been working since we left the Church. Every few minutes…Andrea would turn to Lori and I, scoff at us and then turn away again.

It was obvious what her problem was and I was just biding my time until she said something, 'cause when she did, she was gonna get an earful.

"So this is it? This is the whole plan?" Carol asked, looking to Daryl who cut her off.

He sighed. "I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups…cover more ground—

"Carrying knives and pointing sticks," Andrea interrupted hatefully before she rounded on my sister-in-law. "I see you have a gun."

Lori head snapped up with fire glowing in her eyes. "Why, you want it?" She asked, glaring at Andrea as she passed her the small revolver. "Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me."

As Lori held out the gun, I swooped in, snatching it up before Andrea could get a grip on it. "No, I don't think so." I said, handing the gun back to Daryl. "Lori, if you don't want it than give it back to Daryl."

Daryl stepped forward, taking the pistol from my hand and Andrea walked up to get in my face. "Who died and made you Queen all of a sudden. Just because you're married to—

"This ain't got nothin' to do with that, Andrea," I said, taking a step closer to her. If she thought for one second that she was intimating, she really had another thing coming. "Look, you have no idea how to safely handle a gun. You're a smart woman…and I'm sure you could learn pretty damn quick, but until you do…back the fuck off. Lori's been trained and you stuck a loaded gun in my brother's face not three days ago."

She scoffed, but said nothing else as she raised her hands and backed away. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was holding a loaded 30/06 pump action rifle.

Lori sat down next to Carol, rocking herself in her anger. I knew this would happen, but I was genuinely surprised that this hadn't been said last night. "Look, I know what it's like…missing your husband, to see what you have and not being able to do anything to stop it. But, you have got to stop blaming Rick. It is on your face every time you look at him…

I made my way around the fallen log, and pressed a hand on Lori's shoulder in support and comfort as she continued to speak. Carol already knew how I felt about her scathing looks towards my brother and it was in my opinion that Lori was being very generous with her words. I would have lit that woman up like the Times Square Christmas tree faster than she could blink.

"Once Ed ran, he didn't even hesitate…not even for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after him the way he did, made the hard decision that he had to make. I don't think that anybody could have done it any differently."

As Lori finished I had to admit that Carol looked thoroughly chastised. I was proud and jealous all in the same gesture…maybe it was a Mom thing that I could just never understand. I had basically said all the same things to Carol the night before…and she never once looked as guilty as she did right now.

"Anybody?" Lori asked, her head darting from one face to another. "You all look to him and blame him, but he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, than go right ahead…_**Nobody**_ is stoppin' you."

Everyone was deathly quiet as Lori said her piece, every one of them looking just as scolded as Carol. Andrea murmured a soft apology and Daryl handed Lori the gun back.

"We should keep moving," Andrea said, looking from Lori to me with her face softened. I nodded before extending my hand to my sister and helping her to her feet.

I walked up past Daryl and he awkwardly threw his filthy, sweaty arm over my shoulder. "Ya alrigh', Red?"

I scoffed at him before hugging his side. "Just another day in paradise, Dixon, just another day."

* * *

"You know…Rick and I were fighting the day he was shot."

I stopped dead in my tracks, my head turning to Lori. It was a really off the wall thing for her to say…but I guess I did say we'd talk about her acting funny.

"Yeah…what about?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I really don't remember now, but I know I was bein' a bitch—

"Lori," I scolded but she shook her head.

"No, I was…I was tryin' so hard to get him to fight with me but he just—

"Lori," I laughed. "You know better than anyone how Rick is with you. To him, you might as well been a southern belle from Twelve Oaks…you're a lady to him and he was raised with better manners than that."

She laughed with me. "I know…but it always irked me that he would never have it out with me when he'd always fight with you."

I snorted at that. "I ain't no lady…I'm nothin' but a sister."

"The Aristocats." Sophia said softly next to her Mama and every head, including Daryl's turned to look at the shy child. "It's from the Aristocats, right?"

I nodded. "Good call, Sophia. It's one of Carl's favorite movies."

She smiled and Carol laughed. It was the first time I had seen her smile or laugh since Ed went missing yesterday.

Lori laughed next to me. "How could I forget?"

"'Cause you ain't the one who had to watch it on repeat for week straight when you and Ricky went on that second honeymoon," I grumbled. "I'm pretty sure Shane can quote the entire thing word for word."

She laughed hard, covering her face with her hands to muffle the sound. "Oh God, he tortured Rick for weeks with that damn song. It got so bad that Rick would come home whistling it at the end of every shift."

"Well," I chuckled. "That's what he gets for goin' on a sex filled vacation and leavin' Shane and I to be tortured by an evil four year old obsessed with all things Disney."

She nudged my shoulder with hers, "You and Shane could have had just as much fun if you both weren't cowards."

"Oh yeah," I scoffed. "I'm sure Rick wouldn't have had a heart-attack if he came home and found out that Shane and I did the dirty on the kitchen counter."

"The kitchen counter, huh?" Lori teased, jabbing my sides with her bony elbow.

"Shut-up," I grumbled. "There was a lot of pent up frustrations flyin' around in that kitchen."

"Oh—

Whatever comeback she had died as we all heard the lone gun-shot echoing off the trees. Instantly, my heart climbed into my throat as dread and anxiety filled my entire being. Something was horribly wrong. My twin senses were tingling. Something had happened to Rick…and it was something bad.

* * *

**~ Author's Note ~**

Before anybody asks…Lori acting strange has nothing to do with Shane. As I said in Lil' Bird…there was never a Shane/Lori connection of any kind. Lori is acting strange for other reason that will be brought up in later chapters.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary: ** Part 2 of the Lil' Bird Series. With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*

**Warning: **This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

**Pairing: **Shane & Birdie Walsh

**Chapter Seven**

"You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked looking to me as I stopped and looked back at the direction we had come from.

"It was a gun-shot…" I muttered distractedly, looking to my left when Lori threw her arm around my shoulder.

"We all heard it, Red." Daryl commented, but I wasn't paying attention to anybody but Lori.

"What is it, Birdie?" She asked, looking at me with tears in her eyes and that's when I realized I was crying. She knew better than anyone but Shane how connected my brother and I are…she had seen it in action too many times to count. When something was wrong with my twin…I just _knew_.

"Don't know," I replied, wiping at my eyes. "Something doesn't feel right. Why was it just the one shot?"

"Maybe they took down a walker." Daryl commented and both Lori and I turned to scowl at him.

"Please don't patronize us," Lori growled. "You know Rick wouldn't risk a shot for one walker…and neither would Shane, they'd do it quietly."

"Shouldn't they have caught up to us by now?" Carol asked, clutching her daughter too her with grief written all over her face.

Daryl shook his head as he made his way back towards me. "Nothing we can do 'bout it anyways. We can't be wandering around in these woods chasin' echoes."

"Look Daryl," Lori spat. "Birdie's never been wrong in all the years I've known her…if she says somethin' feels off…than it is. So what do we do?"

"Same as we been doin'. Beat the bush for Ed, work our way back to the highway." He said shrugging his shoulders apologetically when I glared at him.

Andrea turned to us, looking sweeter than I had ever seen her act. "I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the R.V."

Lori didn't look convinced in the slightest…and I wasn't. Period. But I knew I couldn't let her panic, because if I did then I would lose my cool as well.

"Daryl's right, even if… There's nothing we can do except end up getting lost out here. Ricky, beat my ass into the ground if I let anything happen to you."

She looked back once more but nodded and began to follow along with the rest of the group but we all stopped when Andrea hung back with Carol.

"I'm sorry for what you're goin' through." Andrea said, looking like she genuinely meant it. "I kind of know how it feels."

Carol nodded her head, but looked ungrateful at the comment. "I suppose you do."

Carol turned back to all of us, hugging her daughter closer. "Just the thought of him…out here by himself…

_God_, I thought to myself, _she's talkin' about him like he's a child_. Then, of course, I felt guilty for judging her so harshly. I know I'd be a blind wreck if it were Shane alone out here—and he had a lot more goin' for him than Ed did.

Carol shook her head. "I guess I find myself just prayin' that he doesn't end up like Amy."

Lori gasped and I covered my mouth with my hand and bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from doing the same.

The remorse was written all over Carol's face as she apologized over and over again to Andrea for her callous words.

"That's the worst thing I ever said." Carol sobbed, but Andrea shook her head.

"No, it's alright…we're all hoping and praying with you," She replied, "for what it's worth."

Daryl strolled forward, his body taught with tension as he spoke. "I'll tell you what it's worth—not a damn thing. It's a waste of time; all this hopin' and prayin'. We're gonna locate your husband and we're gonna get the Hell out of here. Am I the only one Zen around here?"

"Good Lord?" he huffed as he brushed by me, and I snorted and giggled hard under my hand. Lori looked at me like I had just lost my damn mind.

"Zen? You, hothead?" I asked, still trying hard not to laugh outright.

"Shut-up, Red," he snarled, but any heat lacing his words was lost with his mischievous smile.

Lori smiled at me as soon as Daryl's back was turned, clasping her hands together and batting her eyelashes. I smacked her in the back of the head and repeated Daryl's last comment. "Shut-up."

* * *

"How much further?" Lori asked as we shuffled through brush of the Georgia woodlands.

As much as I would have loved to tease Lori—who for as long as I've known her was a very "indoor" girl, I was in the same boat as she was right now. I was tired, hungry and worried out of my mind for the safety of my brother, my nephew and my husband.

"Not much," Daryl panted beside me. "Maybe a hundred meters…as the crow flies."

"Too bad were not crows." Andrea replied wittily without hesitation and I looked back and smiled at her. Yeah, we definitely weren't crows.

It was only a few minutes later when we heard the scream.

"Andrea!" Lori yelled.

We all took off at a sprint, only to be stopped dead in our tracks as we watched a young woman with short brown hair on horseback damn near take the head of the walker who had been attacking Andrea with a baseball-bat.

"Lori," the young woman called and my heart sunk. "Lori Grimes. Whoa." She asked again as she steadied her mare.

Everyone rushed forward but me—my feet felt like they had been glued to the forest floor in my panic.

"I'm Lori," my sister said as she rushed to the girl's side.

"Rick sent me, you gotta come now." She panted, looking at Lori with a face that I had been dreading. The young woman looked absolutely horrified.

"What?" Lori asked, dazed.

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you gotta come now."

Lori, much like me, seemed to be rooted in fear where she stood.

"Rick needs you…just come!"

The rest seemed to play out in slow motion for me; Lori jumping on the back of that horse and Daryl trying to stop her.

"Rick said you had others on the highway…that big traffic snarl?"

Glenn seemed to be the only one with a functioning mouth beside Daryl and he nodded. "Ah-ha."

"Backtrack to Fairbairn Road, there's a farm about two miles down, you'll see the mailbox, the name's Green."

I felt my knees buckling under me and tears were already streaming down my face as I watched my family ride off with a stranger. My knees hit the dirt a few seconds later as I tried and failed to get myself under control. This whole time I had thought my brother was in some kind of danger…

"Hey Red, you alright over there, girl?" Daryl asked as he shot the walker who was apparently still alive with a "Shut-up."

It was then that I realized that I could hardly breathe. My entire body was shaking and I was sobbing uncontrollably.

_Get it together, Birdie… Pull your-fuckin'-self together. Do it now._

"I gotta go." I told them, rushing to my feet and nearly tumbling back down as all the blood rushed to my head.

"Whoa, Red." Daryl said, gripping my arms. "You got it?"

I nodded and took off back towards the highway.

* * *

"Shot?" Dale asked loudly as I nearly knocked him over as I charged over the guard rail still set in a dead run. "What do you mean, shot?"

Glenn panted behind me as I raced to the Semi, slinging everything I had into the back. "I don't know, Dale. This girl road out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

"And you let her?" Dale asked, though I still didn't bother to look and see who he was talking to. I was on a mission and Heaven help the sorry son of a bitch who tries to get in my way.

"Climb down out of my ass, old man." I heard Daryl snarl a second later. "Rick sent'er. She knew Lori's name and Carl's."

"You gonna be alright, Red?" Daryl asked, approaching the door of my Semi with caution.

I shook my head, afraid to speak. I was so certain at this point that if I opened my mouth—I would start sobbing like a scared little girl. Right now, I needed a level head and that wouldn't help anything.

"You need anythin'?" He asked again and I finally turned around to fully look at him.

"Spot me?" I whispered, my voice cracking under the weight of my grief. "I need to get turned around."

"Birdie," he sighed, squinting up at me with remorse. "I can't let you go off—

"Will you or won't you?!" I snapped, not having the patience to have one of those ridiculous gender bending conversations right now. I knew perfectly well that in most cases: women were a weaker sex...but this was my nephew…my Godson's life on the line and my brother needed me. The Devil himself couldn't stop me right now from getting to that farm.

"Yeah, alrigh'." He nodded. "Just…take someone with you."

I nodded and got to work, firing up the engine and resetting all my mirrors from when Shane drove the last time.

_Oh God, Shane…_ I cut off that train of thought directly…I couldn't be bothered with thoughts like that right now. As much as I would love to have him here to comfort me, I had shit to do.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to slip behind the horizon by the time I got turned around a path cleared to back to the road the young woman on horseback had told us about.

"I won't do it, I can't just leave." Carol stated shaking her head as I asked the others who wanted to accompany me to the Green's farm.

My blood boiled under the surface of my skin as I tried to hold back my anger. Nobody was telling her _**she**_ had to go anywhere…it was just an offer.

Dale looked at her as he leaned against the door of his R.V. "Carol, the group is spilt. We're scattered and weak—

"What if he comes back and we're not here?" She asked, looking at all of us like we were the crazy ones.

I scoffed, not caring anymore if I upset her delicate sensibilities. My nephew could be dying right now and she was more worried about that fuckin' parasitic, woman beatin', child molesting bastard?

"Carol—

"Easy, Red," Daryl said softly as he laid a hand on my shoulder and scooted me back towards him. "Now ain't the time."

She looked at us all again, her eyes shifting quickly over every face as she defended her theory with a weak, "It could happen."

Andrea nodded, somehow agreeing with Carol. "If Ed found his way back here and we were gone…that would be awful.

Unable to hold my tongue any longer, I shirked off Daryl's hand and stepped forward with angry tears burning down my face. "I don't give a _**flyin' **_**fuck** what the rest of ya do. I'm goin', anybody that wants to come, be ready in five or fuckin' stay here!"

"Okay, Red, easy." Daryl said, gripping on the top of my arm. "We gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow we pull up stakes…give us the chance to…rig up a big sign. Leave'im some supplies. I hold here tonight, stay with the R.V."

"If the R.V.'s stayin' than I am too." Dale pitched in.

"Thank you," Carol cried graciously.

I was growing more impatient with every word spoken and I was about two seconds away from blowin' my top.

"I'm in," Andrea stated, holding up her hand...not that I'd miss her much.

"Well, if you're all stayin' then—

"No, not you, Glenn," Dale commanded and pointing a finger at me. "You go on and go with Birdie…she's gonna need someone with her."

"Me," he scoffed, looking at me with a hint of trepidation. What the hell did I ever do to him? "Why is it always me?"

Glenn looked over at me with that same scared look, and groaned as Dale droned on about reconnecting with our people and getting T-dog medical attention.

That somewhat snapped me out of my funk. I turned to look at the black man who was sweating profusely and then down to the blackened bandage around his arm that I specifically told him to keep clean.

"Get your ass in the truck, Boyo." I told him as he scowled up at me from the bumper of the R.V., pointing to the Semi as I spoke. I was ready to cleave the meat from his hide I was so upset with him. "I told you to keep that bandage clean…are you tryin' to kill yourself. I told you we didn't have any antibiotics…now you gone and got yourself an infection."

Daryl looked thoughtful for a moment before he turned and went back to his brother's Triumph and snatching one of Dale's grease rags off the seat and pulling the biggest ziplock back of pills I had ever seen out of the saddlebags.

"Keep yer oily rags off my brother's motorcycle…" Daryl bitched, throwing the rag at Dale before he settled the bag of narcotics on the hood of nearby car. "Why'd you wait till now to say anything? I got my brother's stash."

All of us gathered round, looking on with different shades of bewilderment on our faces. Leave it to the "**raciest**" redneck to swoop in and save the day…_**again**_.

"Crystal…X, _don't need that…_some kick ass pain killers—it's what I gave Chirp for her head," he trailed off, tossing the bottle to Glenn.

"Doxycycline…" he said tossing me the bottle of antibiotics. "Ain't the generic stuff neither…that's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion." He told me with a shrug and a wink.

I laughed…I actually laughed, but in my defense—how could you not.

Dale looked about as tickled as I did, but as he looked back towards T-dog—who looked ready to collapse we both sobered and raced to his side. Dale grabbed a bottle of water on his way and I already had two pills out and ready for consumption.

"Take these," I told him, almost shoving the pills into his mouth myself. "Swallow and then get your big ass into my truck…no bitchin', moanin' or groanin."

* * *

It wasn't long after that before I was flyin' down a dark back road, at speeds that I'm sure were scarin' the living shit out of T-dog and Glenn, but at least they knew better than to say anything.

The Green farm wasn't hard to find in the slightest…the young girl was right when she had said we couldn't miss the mailbox…

My door was thrown open as soon as the engine was cut and I was flyin' towards the front door. "Ricky! Ricky! Shane…Lori!"

I was met on the front porch by the same girl on horseback that I had seen earlier. "You Birdie?" I nodded. "I'm Maggie. Rick said you'd be comin'. Come on, I'll take ya to'em."

I could make out Glenn and T-dog hollering for me to wait up as I passed through the screen door behind Maggie. "Carl? Is he still…

"He's still alive…for now. He needs surgery. The other man that was with Rick…the one with the bloodhound—

"Shane?" I gasped; worry already creeping into my bones.

"Yeah," she nodded as she led me through the old farm house to a dark stained bedroom door. "He went with our man Otis to gather supplies from a FEMA station."

"Thank you," I told her, passing under her arm and into a bedroom.

My heart stopped as I took in Carl's pale pallor and the sight of the massive bruise on his lower abdomen.

"Dear God!" I cried. "Ricky…"

Ricky and Lori both jerked at the sound of my voice, as did an older white haired gentleman who was currently checking my nephews pulse.

"Oh Birdie," he cried, as rushed to his side and fell into his arms. He was nearly as white as Carl. "My little boy…my little boy…

"Pressures dropping again," the older man said, looking down at Carl with little hope. He looked to me then. "Are you the Aunt?" I nodded at him, fighting back a sob. "Rick tells me you're a universal donor, I'll need you here."

Again, I nodded. "Anything…anything you need…?"

"You can call me Hershel." He turned back to my brother, his eyes hard and clinical. "We can't wait much longer."

Rick held out his arm with a crazy look in his eye. "Take more," he said. "Take whatever he needs, then I'm gonna go."

Lori's head snapped up from my other shoulder and she jumped to her feet. "Go…go where—

"They said five miles…they should have long been back by now. Somethin's gone wrong."

I couldn't really understand what they were talking about…not that I needed to, something had happened to my husband. I sat down heavily in the chair Rick had just vacated, shaking my head to clear Ricky's voice out of my head.

_Shane's strong, Birdie… Shane will make it. _

"Are you insane?" She asked calmly…much too calmly. "You're not goin' after them."

"Rick, listen to your wife—

"I've got it under control…

"You're in no condition to do anythin' about it. You've given too much blood. You're barely on your feet…you wouldn't make it across the yard." Hershel agreed as he tried to make my brother see reason.

"Ricky—

"No, if somethin' happened, I-I have to go—

Lori shook her head, cutting him off. "No, your place is here. If Shane said he'll be back…he'll be back."

"He's like you that way…" I said, my voice choking on the different emotions I felt whirling through me like the spinning tea-cups at Disney.

"I can't just… sit here!—

"That's exactly what you do!" Lori screamed, finally letting lose. "If you need to pray, or cry, or tell God he's cruel, you go right ahead…but you're not leavin'."

"Ricky, you listen to her…Carl, your baby boy, he needs you right now." I told him, scowling up at him from where I sat holding my nephews hand.

Lori nodded, "He needs you here, Rick. And I can't do this by myself. Not again, not this one. I can't…I can't…"

**~ Author's Note ~**

Questions? Comments?


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary: ** Part 2 of the Lil' Bird Series. With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*

**Warning: **This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

**Pairing: **Shane & Birdie Walsh

**Chapter Eight**

Ricky giggled next to me… actually giggled.

"You remember the time Shane stole the principal's car?" Ricky asked and I snorted out a laugh and nodded. Oh yeah, I remembered that vividly; it was one of the stupidest and funny pranks Shane ever pulled off.

"Legendary…" I said sarcastically. I swear that idiot hadn't quit bragging since.

"It _**was **_legendary," Ricky replied defensively. "Took it right out of the teacher's lot in the middle of the school day."

"Forgive me if I didn't see it quite like that." I said with a huff as I settled back into my chair to hear the rest of the story…not that I needed to.

Ricky looked up and pinched my arm. "You don't remember why he did it, do you?"

What the hell was he talking about?

I'm sure my face looked confused enough, but in case he missed that gesture, I said. "What? I don't remember there ever being a reason…other than Shane's an arrogant S.O.B."

Ricky and Lori both laughed and I guess the joke was on me now.

"What?" I asked again, miffed that there was something that they knew that I didn't.

"It was your first day back to school after your first and only suspension, remember?" I nodded. "Remember what you got suspended for?"

I didn't even have to think about it. "Yeah, I punched Janice Kingsly in the mouth after she told the entire senior class that Jake Deerborn dumped me because I wouldn't put out—

"That ain't all she said." Ricky commented but I let it slide without saying anything. Everyone in this room—excluding my nephew—knew what she had truly said to the entire senior class; which is why I decked that bitch.

"Yeah, what's that got to do with the price of putty?"

Ricky and Lori both looked at me very pointedly…and finally the situation dawned on me. Janice Kingsly was the only child of Principal Jonathan Kingsly and I remember the embarrassing and unfair expulsion I received when I hit her. Shane was defending me.

"You get it now?" Ricky asked and I nodded, blushing a little. I was embarrassed that it took me 16 years to finally understand that prank.

"Anyway, Shane steps out of lunch and makes a B-line to Principals Kingsly's Hyundai and wires the ignition. He peels out, drives to a chicken farm out there…"

"You have heard this right?" Ricky asked Lori, again.

She had to have known that between the blood loss and traumatic events of the day were finally catching up to my brother because she just smiled and nodded even though, I knew this was a story she had probably heard more than I had and I was there.

"So he pulls into one of the big holdin' pens. Now Kingsly had that car waxed every month, had the auto shop vacuum it out every week...

"That old bastard loved that car." I added with a smile.

Rick nods and starts to chuckle, "…But Shane, he parks it in this huge pen with a couple of Rhode Island Reds and busts open a couple of bags of seed in the back seat…Rolls down the windows and starts sprintin' back to school. It's three miles easy, but…

"He was back in time to finish his sandwich before the bell rung." I finished for him.

"The bell rings and Shane gets up and runs right into Kingsly in the hallway. He looks out the window and say: "Principal Kingsly, your coupes gone." Ricky laughed. "You get it…like chicken coop."

Lori breathed deep on the other side of the bed and I could tell that the story was neither amusing nor distracting her so I squeezed Ricky's hand.

"Of course she gets it, Ricky; she's had to have heard this story a thousand times." I told him softly, interlacing my fingers with his.

His head bobbed tiredly in a wobbly nod, "Yeah…the point is: if Shane says he's gonna do somethin', he does it. Shane's gonna make it back with what the doctor needs. He'll make it back."

Lori looked over at me, her eyes shiny brightly with unshed tears in the dim lighting of the room. She looked terrified from me to Rick and I knew she wasn't just worried about her little boy anymore. Rick had given too much blood, it was plainly written in his pale features and he was quickly becoming unstable.

"Please eat." She begged as she delicately kissed the fingers on her son's hand. "You gotta keep your strength up."

* * *

It wasn't long after story time that Hershel and a lovely woman in her late-40's named Patricia had me hooked up to a transfusion machine that looked like it came straight off a movie set of Bram Stoker's Dracula. That also happened to be when Glenn and T-dog decided that they were safe from the nuclear meltdown between my brother and his wife and came in to see how Carl was doing.

"Hey." Glenn said timidly as he shuffled through the doorway with T-dog—who was still wrapped in that same Army blanket that Shane and I had cuddled on not even a week ago—right behind him.

"Hey," my brother replied distractedly, never taking his eyes off Carl.

"Hey guys," I said, giving them both a slight wave from where I sat next to my nephew, "sorry about earlier."

Ricky didn't even pay attention but Lori looked to with her eyebrow raised, probably wondering what I had done that would warrant an apology.

Shrugging my shoulders, I explained. "I kind of went off the deep end when…" I trialed off, waving over Carl's prone little body and she nodded. At this point, a blind person would have understood what I meant.

"It ain't nothin', Lil' Red." T-dog supplied with a cough.

Glenn just nodded, his eyes never leaving the gruesome scene in front of him as he muttered, "Um…we're here, okay."

My brother finally looked up from where he sat next to me with his head in his hands. "Thank you."

Lori nodded from next to him, also giving her thanks.

"Whatever you need." T-dog said solemnly as Maggie ushered him and Glenn back out the door.

As soon as they were gone Hershel stood and checked Carl's pulse, his eyes closing in disappointment. Without word he removed the sheet from my nephew's abdomen and it was hard not to cry out at the sight. His little stomach was swollen and bruised…he was showing clear signs of internal bleeding. Lori had already filled me in on Carl's condition long ago and I can vouch that it is one thing to hear about an injury as severe as Carl's and another thing entirely to watch it progress.

Hershel sighed as Ricky, Lori and I began to cry, but his eyes were constantly searching between Ricky and Lori's.

"They don't get back soon, we're gonna have a decision to make." Hershel told them.

"And that is?" My brother asked as chewing on his pinky…something I hadn't seen him do since he was a little boy.

"Whether to operate on your boy without the respirator—

"You said that wouldn't work." Lori interrupted as she leaned forward, looking the old veterinarian dead in the eyes.

"I know," he said, looking from my Lori to my brother. "It's highly unlikely, but we can't wait much longer."

Lori jumped up from her chair as Patricia pulled the hard, thick needle from my arm and I went to stand to go after her. As soon as I stood the powerful throbbing from behind my eyes returned and I immediately fell back into my chair.

"Honey, you just gave blood," the woman told me sternly, clapping her hand on my shoulder.

"But Lori—

"She'll be fine," she interrupted as she crouched down beside my chair, "but you'll give out if you try and stand again like that."

"You alrigh', Lil' Bird," my brother asked, his attention now fully on me.

"Yeah," I told him, squeezing my eyes shut to block out the blinding pain of the lamp light that seemed to have moved closer to my head. "Just a little dizzy spell."

"Hon?" Patricia asked as her cool hands took hold of my chin. "Have you had any medical related issues lately? You shouldn't have had this strong of a reaction from the amount blood you've given."

As soon as the question was out of her mouth my intent was to lie to her. It was a decision though, that was quickly taken out of my hands by my brother.

"Concussion," he said warily, and I knew if I could actually open my eyes and see his face without becoming sick, he would have tears in his eyes. "Four days ago. A man…the man we're lookin' for…he hit her and she fell…hit her head on a rock."

"Hmmm," she said thoughtfully. "You'll just have to take it easy, I'll have Maggie fix you somethin' to eat."

She patted my hand as she stood and I grasped it quickly before she could leave. "The black man out there…T-dog, he's got a blood infection. I-I gave him some Doxycycline…would you have a look at his stiches? I told him to keep them clean but…"

"Don't you worry about a thing, hon, I'll look'em over." She said squeezing my hand again, and I finally found the courage to look up at her. She wasn't looking at me but over at my brother as she pointed her finger and spoke. "You too, easy now, you hear?"

Ricky nodded before easing up out of his chair and making his way to the door. He stopped just before crossing the threshold and turned back to look at me. "Will you?"

I glared up at him. "Like that's even a question worth wastin' your breath over."

* * *

He nodded and sluggishly strolled from the room.

My eyes flew open as I jolted awake; I guess that at some point I must have dozed off in my chair. I had never felt so damn tired in all my life. But that thought was quickly put from my mind when I realized what had woken me.

Carl was coughing…

Carl was awake.

"Where are we?" He panted as Ricky and Lori burst through the door seconds later, both looking overjoyed to see their little one conscious again.

"This is Hershel…we're in his house," Ricky told him, looking to the man himself as I stood and made my way behind Lori, covering my mouth with both hands as I sobbed happily. "Ya...ya had an accident."

Carl nodded his head as he tried to pull down the bedding to look at his wounds, his hands trembling from the pain wracking his body. "It h-h-hurts…a lot"

"Oh baby, I know…" Lori said, her voice choking up as she rubbed his head. "I know…I know…"

"You should have seen it," Carl said smiling as he looked up at his mother.

"What?" Lori asked.

"Deer," Carl simply replied. "It was so pretty, Mom. It was so close. I've never been…" His voice trailed off as his eyes went vacant before rolling up into his skull…

There was an intense silence that fell over the room…I don't think any of us even took a breath as we watched helplessly as Carl stopped breathing.

_No. No. No. No. __**NO!**_

"Carl?" Ricky called shakily at the same time Lori asked. "What's happening?"

Suddenly my nephew gasped before surging off the bed as his body started to seize. Hershel flew into action as Ricky, Lori and I all threw bodies on the bed to hold him down.

"No," he told us shoving our hands away and rolling Carl to his side. "It's a seizer, you could hurt'em. He's just gotta go through it."

"You can't stop it?!" Lori cried, throwing herself into Ricky's arms as I watched my nephew flop on the bed. I don't think any of us ever felt completely powerless before; I know I hadn't. There was nothing we could do to stop it…we could only wait.

He continued on like that for what seemed like an eternity before he finally fell still and passed back out. I threw myself back down into my chair, sobbing hard as Hershel moved in and started checking his vitals.

"His brain isn't getting enough blood," Hershel said as he checked Carl's pupils. "His pressures bottoming…he needs another transfusion."

"Okay, I'm ready," Ricky said without hesitation…but Hershel shook his head.

"If I take any more your body could shut down and you could go into a coma or cardiac arrest—

"Then take mine," I said, already holding out my arm, ready to give the last drop if I had too. "If you can't take his…take mine."

Hershel looked at me. "You—young lady—could end up in just as bad of shape or worse. You have a very severe concussion and your underweight—

"I don't care," I told him fiercely, thrusting my arm out. "Carl needs his Daddy and his Mama—

"You're waistin' time," Ricky interrupted, his eyes wild with fear.

Hershel nodded and jerked up the old instrument from the bed. Ricky held out his arm, but the old man bypassed him knocking his arm out of the way as he made his way to crouch in front of me.

"No," Ricky said. "Take—

"Shut-up, Ricky and sit down!" I nearly yelled at him as Hershel fed the tube deep into my vein. "Let me do this for you."

"Rick, your sister is very right; when your son makes it through this, he's gonna need his father." Hershel told my brother as he spun around and hooked the identical tube into Carl's I.V.

"Thank you Birdie…thank you." Lori kept repeating and I nodded and let her. She didn't have to say anything…she knew it…I knew it, but I would do anything to put her at ease right now. If that just happened to be her repeating "thank you" like a mantra, then so be it.

"Birdie," Ricky choked out. "Shane's gonna be here…he's gonna—

"Ricky, please shut-up." I begged as I started to cry. I was already beyond worried sick about him, I didn't need Ricky constantly repeating that.

"Ma'am, Patricia said that your other man…Shane, he's your husband?" Hershel asked, obviously tryin' to distract me.

"Yes, Sir, he is." I nodded, my free hand stroking Carl's as my blood started to float from one tube to the other.

"He's a good man."

"Yes," I smiled. "The best."

Sometime later, Hershel returned, again timing Carl's vitals with his pocket timepiece. After a few minutes he shook his head and sighed. "He's losing blood faster than we can replace it."

"I can give more," I said as I clamored to my feet shakily.

My head was throbbing and I was having a hard time focusing on Hershel's face. I felt like I was drunk…but I wasn't happy and I could feel everything.

"No," Hershel replied, shaking his head. "You've given too much already. I can't risk taking from either of you again so soon."

"I don't—

"We need to operate now," Hershel said, cutting me off, "…because I think this boy is out of time." Lori and Rick were stock still and silent. "You have to make a choice."

"A choice?" I asked with a shudder. Even in my delusional state, I knew that didn't sound good.

"A choice," Ricky parroted to Lori, gripping her too him. "You have to tell me what it is. You have to tell me."

I didn't breath at all in the time I waited for Lori to make the final decision on my nephew's life, I don't think I could have taken a breath if I tried.

"We do it," Lori said, standing tall with a hell of a lot more courage than I had right now.

Instantly Hershel called for Patricia and she came storming into the room with a metal operating table I had seen used many times in my profession. Hershel was rolling up his sleeves as he spoke.

"Okay, get the corner of that bed," he said as he started pulling the covers off Carl. "Get the bedding down, everybody…

We moved in unison—the three of us—each taking a stance by our side of bed as Hershel continued to mouth off orders with a military like precision.

"You, get the I.V. on the sheet," He demanded to me and I did what he asked as fast as I could and removed the pillow from under Carl's head as well.

"Okay, on three…One…Two…Three…" He said and we hefted the unconscious body of my nephew onto the table. "Rick, Lori, Birdie…you may want to step out."

"Oh God," My brother muttered quietly, pushing past me as we all heard the rumble of a vehicle pulling up.

"You stay here with him," Hershel demanded of Patricia as he grabbed my arm and pulled me along with him out the door. "I believe your husband is here."

The old sky blue Ford screeched to a halt just as Hershel and I made it past the screen door, but my heart dropped into my stomach as saw the figures of two men I didn't recognize exit the truck; one lanky and one large.

The large man rushed forward, heaving for breath. He was lugging one large red pack of equipment with him, a rifle, and my brother's pistol. The other thin man was carrying an identical pack in the color blue…and Shane's shot-gun.

There was no words describe the overwhelming sense of terror that I felt as my eyes darted around the dark field, looking for any trace of Shane or Trusty.

I waited with a baited breath for Shane to pop out from some unseen shadow of the vehicle, but after severel tense moments it became glaringly obvious…so obvious that my heart stuttered in my chest and fresh tears formed in my eyes.

My husband was not among them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **All publicly recognizable characters, settings, ect., are the property of their respective owners. The original character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary: ** Part 2 of the Lil' Bird Series. With the hope of CDC lost, the Grimes and the Walsh families are on the road to Ft. Benning. What will Birdie find along the way? Will Birdie and Shane remain side by side wherever the road might lead? *No evil Shane*

**Warning: **This fan-fiction is rated Mature for Language, Gore and Adult Situations. Readers under the age of 18 are strongly discouraged from reading.

**Pairing: **Shane & Birdie Walsh

**Chapter Nine**

Stumbling down the stairs, I grasped the larger man's shirt with both hands. "Shane…where's Shane?" I begged as the other stranger brushed past me, grabbing the red pack from who I assumed was Patricia's husband.

"He was hurt…" I could literally feel the blood drain out of my face as the man looked down at me.

"Shane!" I screamed with all my might. "Shane?!"

"Birdie, just calm down now…you're too weak…" My brother tried to sooth as he stepped in my line of sight, his eyes worried. He looked like he was afraid I'd fall over. Which was probably warranted—my vision was going blurry every few seconds; white spots dancing in front of my eyes and my breathing was getting heavier.

"**Shane!**" The scream fell desperately from my lips as I slid to the ground beneath me, my head dropped into my hands as I started to sob wildly.

"Miss…" the man heaved, his voice winded and rasping as he panted, "I'm tryin' to tell you…he's hurt, but's he's alive…he's closin' the gate." He finished as he hoisted me to my feet by my biceps.

"Alive?" I begged, sagging against his chest as I started to shake.

"Yes Ma'am." He replied.

"Birdie!" I heard a muffled yell from the distance followed by the bark of my bloodhound.

"_Shane…,"_ I rasped, tears of happiness flowing down my face as I tried to discern if he was real or not.

"Now just hold on, Birdie…" my brother said, trying to keep me from rushing out into the dark.

Shaking my head, I broke out of Otis' hold on my arms. I jerked around his body and started to walk towards the sound. Before too long, I could make out his silhouette in the porch light, he was limping badly. Concerned and overjoyed he was here, I took off in a run.

"Shane," I cried happily.

Suddenly, the world tilted on its axis and everything went fuzzy. I stumbled a bit, but kept going. If I could only get to his arms…everything would be alright again. I just had to get there.

"Birdie," he called, sounding concerned. "Baby, what's wrong with you?"

"I—

My voice caught in my throat as the sounds around me turned garbled. My fingers and toes went cold and numb and then…

My world went black.

* * *

It was morning the next time I opened my eyes. My body felt like lead—heavy and stiff, and trying to force my aching eyes open was Hell; it felt like I would have to literally pry them open they were so heavy. If I didn't know any better I would swear that I was in my 20's again and had been on a weekend bender with Shane.

When I finally did manage to peel them open, I wished I hadn't. I swore loudly and shut my eyelids as tightly as I could; protecting them from what I assumed was the glaring morning sun.

A low chuckled followed my cursing and a warm gentle kiss was placed on my bare neck. "Glad to see you're in fine form this mornin', darlin'."

"Ouch," I complained as I rolled to my side with a groan. Damn, I felt like my body had been put through a blender.

Once in control of my facilities I delicately opened my eyes once again… and saw a tanned man with a very bald head and deep, dark eyes—who just happened to be shirtless next to me.

With a startled yelp, I lurched backwards and nearly fell off the bed I was apparently in.

"Baby?" My eyes widened as the realization of who this person was dawned on me.

"Shane?" I questioned, looking over his shaved head with awe and he smiled slightly and nodded. I don't think I had seen Shane this way…well, ever. "What the Hell happened to your hair?"

"Needed somethin' different." He mumbled, rubbing a hand over the stubble on his head.

"Carl?" I asked, my own hand drifting up and over the short, black fuzz.

He smiled at me, a bright, stunning smile. "He's gonna pull through just fine. His surgery went off without a hitch…so baring recovery complications…"

"He's okay?" I asked, removing the covers from my lower half and trying to stand. I fell back down almost immediately.

"Easy babe," he said softly, reaching forward to brush the sticky bangs off my forehead. "David said you need to take it easy."

My forehead wrinkled up in confusion. "Who the Hell is David?"

His eyes got big for a second. "You don't remember?"

I shook my head. No, I can definitely say I don't remember meeting a David. I remember Hershel, Patricia, Maggie, Beth, Jimmy and Otis…but no David.

"Otis and me, we found David in the cafeteria of the high school. He's a local doctor…was a volunteer for FEMA…he'd been pinned down in there since it was overrun. Helped us get out."

Reaching down, I blindly fingered the small butterfly needle that was taped to the crook of my elbow. "Why am I on an I.V.?"

He looked down, his golden finger tracing the line of surgical tape that held the needle in place. "Doc says you were severely dehydrated…had to pump some fluids into ya quick… had to give you two bags."

"Well, I guess I owe him a big thank you, then." I told him, smiling at the light in his big brown eyes…even though my head was killing me.

"You could thank me instead." He purred, scooting forward under the sheets. "I'll send my regards."

He used his thickly muscled arms to pull me closer to him and kissed me soundly. I was so happy to see him here and in one piece that all other thoughts flew from my head and I kissed him back.

"Mmmhmm, uh—baby," I said braking from the kiss. "I'm disgusting."

He chuckled as he pulled back, his eyes heavy as he looked down at me. He leaned in and nipped my bottom lip…then the top before he sweetly kissed the tip of my nose.

"Alright baby, we'll get you cleaned up. David and Hershel both agreed that it'd be alright for you to shower today…" He smiled slyly, his beautiful pink lips quirking up into a sinuous grin. "…as long as you had help."

"Smart-ass," I commented, swatting playfully at his naked chest. "Help me up, fool."

"Just one more kiss," he said lowly, leaning in again to capture my lips in a long overdue meeting of lips.

The flesh of his parted lips was soft and warm and very inviting, making it impossible to refuse the inevitable desire that burned in the pit of my abdomen. Never in my life had I ever experienced desire like this. I had always wanted Shane for my own, I had dreamed about us being together, but I couldn't have imagined the passion that was a constant tension between us.

The kiss continued for several minutes…each nip and caress pushing that desire closer and closer to the surface, but as he maneuvered my body under his…my brain finally caught up with the rest of me and I pushed back against his chest.

He pulled back, pushing himself up on his forearms, his powerful hips still rocking hard from between my parted thighs. "Sorry baby…I just never thought I'd see you again."

I shook my head at him and grasped his neck, pulling him down and pecking his lips again. God he smelled so…clean and good. "I just feel…icky."

He laughed…a silly laugh and started rubbing himself along my body like a cat and making me giggle. "You smell like a sweet peach." He teased as a started playfully biting at my neck and snorting like a pig.

"Shane," I yelped, swatting at him.

"Alright baby, alright." He said as he pulled himself off me, rubbing a hand over his head and face. I wanted to snort at him and his obvious erection that was pushing out harshly against the seam of his dark cargo pants.

"Hold tight," he said as he adjusted his morning wood and grabbed a blue button-up from the foot of the bed and strolled out the door.

When he was gone from my sight I took the time to glance around the room and noticed it was definitely decorated to the tastes of a young man. There were band posters and magazine clips of baseball players pasted all over the walls and ceilings. The bedspread was a dark blue and the furniture was masculine.

Did Hershel have a son I hadn't been introduced to?

Before those questions had any time to marinate the door opened again and a man in his forties stepped over the threshold and smiled at me. I automatically assumed that this was the mysterious David I had heard about.

Even though he had a good 10 years or more on Shane, I would be lying if I said he wasn't attractive. He had a swagger about him that fondly reminded me of a certain blue-eyed redneck I knew and he practically oozed raw sex appeal.

_Holy crow, _I thought to myself with a red face, _I'm actually blushing._

He had a mop of shaggy blond hair and the strangest eyes I had ever seen. His eyes were beautiful in the most weird and wonderful way. One eye was the bluest I'd ever seen—even more stunning than Daryl's—and the other eye was the most brilliant shade of emerald.

"Morning, love," he said with a thick British accent. "I hear you are ready to be parted from this ghastly machine."

Still blushing like a teenager, I nodded. "I would, thank you. I'll go ahead and assume that you're David?"

"You'd be right, precious." He said, moving to sit at my bedside and started gently peeling back that tacky tape at my elbow. "David Byrne at your service, madam."

Smiling goofily, I cut my eyes to my husband only find him already covering his smile with his fist. "He's somethin' else ain't he, baby?"

"I beg to differ, mate." The gorgeous doctor offered. "You are a different breed entirely…you and that insane mongrel."

"Hey," I said defensively. "Trusty ain't no mutt."

"Careful, Doc," Shane laughed. "You keep talkin' 'bout my wife's baby like that and she's liable to shove that needle up your dick."

"Shane!" I scolded, blushing fire-hydrant red in embarrassment.

The blond doctor smiled roguishly at me. "Forgive me." He said and put a hand to his chest as he formally bowed. "That brave beast belongs to you?"

"Yeah," I said shyly.

"Well, Mrs. Walsh, I'd say you're set for the day." David told me, smiling as he stood. He pointed to Shane before he left. "You be careful with that ankle, mate."

As he strolled casually out the door, I turned to Shane with an eyebrow raised and said, "Wow."

He laughed, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up," he told me as extended his hand and helped to pull me to my feet.

Swaying slightly from dizziness, I grasped on to Shane's biceps and laid my head on his chest. Not for nothin', but I was sick of this damsel in distress act.

* * *

The shower was exhilarating and putting on fresh clothes on top of that…well, I felt like I had died and gone to Heaven.

Shane had been something else under the hot spray of the water…constantly gripping some part of my body as he kissed and rocked against me…it really was too bad that we couldn't act on our desires. We were on a strict no strenuous activity diet until my blood cells had a chance to regroup and Shane's ankle didn't look so bad. It really did look terrible…I had thought he broke it when I first glanced at the angry purple injury.

Knowing that there would be no search party for me today, I dressed in a simple pair of cut-off shorts, white tank and a Shane's favorite pull on cowgirl boots. His eyes were practically burning holes in my clothes as I dressed…not that I was any better.

He redressed in the same dark cargo's and blue button-up shirt from earlier and topped it off with his navy blue "Police" ball-cap and smiled cheekily as he laced up his combat boots; the little prick.

We were just making our way through the front living room when we heard the rumbling of Daryl's Triumph pulling up outside.

Ricky, Lori, T-dog, Glenn, Hershel and David met us at the screen door and Ricky hugged me and Shane tightly. Weeping as he apologized and gave his thanks. I could only smile dopily back at him, overjoyed that my nephew was in the clear.

As soon as my eyes met with the bright morning sun, the world tilted again and I swayed on my feet, feeling like I might fall over. Thankfully, Shane was there to catch me or I would have certainly took a digger into the wood planks of the porch.

"Let's set you down." He said roughly, maneuvering my body to slump in one of the many rocking chairs adorning the front porch as Ricky stepped down to meet the rest of our group.

I sat back, letting my eyes refocus and settle on our "people" as they dismounted and exited the remaining four vehicles that were left on the roadside yesterday.

Daryl had been looking through his saddlebags when I had fallen heavily into my chair, the back clattering loudly against the old wood siding and his head jerked up and he stormed the porch.

"What happened? Was she bit?" He angrily asked my husband—who seemed no more in the mood to put up with Daryl as Daryl was in the mood to put up with anyone.

"She ain't bit…" Shane growled back. "Just gave too much blood."

At the sound of Shane's voice, Trusty…who seemed to come out of nowhere stormed up the front steps, nearly knocking Shane and Daryl down and he threw his front paws into my lap and started licking me like he'd never see me again.

"Awe…my big boy, did someone miss his Mama?" I cooed, scratching his ear. I would have put that big baby in my lap if I had had the strength. "Did someone miss me?"

Yes, I sounded like an idiot…but my baby was safe, though…he yelped when I took his right paw.

"Shane?" I asked, glaring up at him.

He held his hands up. "Baby—

"What happened?" I asked, tears already forming in my eyes at the thought of my precious baby being hurt. "What happened to his paw?"

"Ma'am," Otis said as he opened the screen door and stepped out with Patricia. "My wife would like to have a look at it later, but I think it's just a sprain."

"We got pinned down in the auditorium and I-I had to…the only way out was through a window. I was gonna toss Trusty down first…but Otis…he got attacked…Trusty went after him…jumped a good 10 feet to the ground from the bleachers…" Shane continued, crouching down beside Trusty and scratched his ears.

"Ma'am…" Otis continued, but I interrupted him.

"Please call me Birdie."

He smiled sweetly and tilted his hat. "Miss Birdie…that dog saved my life; I'll never forget that…please let Hershel have a look at'im."

"Of course…

Other than Daryl's sudden outburst, Dale was the first one to ask the question I'm sure all of them were dreading. "How is he?"

Lori nodded, looking back at me, Shane and Trusty. "He'll pull through, thanks-thanks to H-Hershel and his…his people—

"And Shane n' Otis…we'd have lost Carl if it weren't for them." Ricky finished.

Shane looked down from where he stood. "You ain't gotta thank me, brother; how could I ever face my wife again knowin' I didn't give it all I had."

Carol embraced Lori as Dale stepped forward and hugged Ricky and then Shane. My poor baby didn't know what to do with himself which was clear as he shuffled from foot to foot during the awkward squeeze. Daryl never moved from my side, chewing on his thumb nail as he chose to stand stoic and silent as always while the rest of our group got reacquainted.

"How did it happen?" Dale asked and Ricky sighed.

"Huntin' accident… that's all, just a stupid accident." Ricky replied, looking more relieved than I'd seen him in days.

* * *

Patricia found me sometime later…Shane had left a while ago with Daryl's offer to help him set up our tent. He told him a lady had no business sleeping on the ground. Apparently Otis agreed and helped the boy's move an old, full-size mattress of his and his wife's into our tent; a thank you for saving his life.

We all gathered by Ed's Cherokee later that day with Hershel and Otis who offered up different maps of the area so we could reconvene our search for Ed. It wasn't something I was very keen on—especially since my nephew and husband had almost died in the search already—but Ricky was adamant and since our catastrophe with Carl the other day…I found I didn't have it in me to even argue with him. I didn't want to fight with my family over petty issues anymore. If Ricky felt so strongly about finding that asshole…well, I promised I'd help him.

"How long's this fella been lost?" Hershel asked as Shane pushed me in front of him and leaned over my shoulder to look at the map.

The fool was really playing dirty today. He may have looked cool as a cucumber on the outside, but the hard length pressing against my left ass-cheek said different; which was only made more awkward when we were joined by Andrea on our left and Daryl on our right.

"This'll be day three." Ricky told him as Hershel's daughter approached with a different map.

She really was a pretty thing and I could see why Glenn—who had been a stuttering mess since meeting her—would be so taken with the southern beauty. She was a strong, independent young woman and I liked her immediately.

She slung that map down on the hood of the Cherokee and rolled it out. "County Survey Map," she said as we all grabbed at an end. "Show terrain and elevations."

"This is perfect," Ricky commented, smiling at the younger brunette. "We have a chance to finally get this thing organized…

"We can grid the whole area and start searchin' in teams…

I looked at my brother from across the hood and noticed just how pale he looked. Well, we were both fairly pair by nature—we both being from an Irish background—but he looked as bad as I did on a good day. There was no way he was going out anywhere today…I didn't care if I had to sit on him.

"Not you," Hershel declared, looking at Ricky's sickening color. "Not today, you've given three units of blood…you wouldn't be hikin' five minutes in this heat before passin' out…

"And you and your husband too," Hershel said, speaking to me and Shane. "Between your concussion and his ankle…you push it now and you'll both be laid up for a month."

"Looks like were tent-bound, darlin'," Shane whispered not so discreetly into my right ear—making sure he was loud enough for Daryl to hear him—before he bit my earlobe. Caveman!

Ricky snickered lightly before apologizing to Hershel. "You'll have to accuse my brother-in-law…honeymooners."

"Ricky!" I hissed, elbowing Shane in the ribs to make him back off as I smiled at Hershel with a red face.

I think the old man was about to laugh at me before I glared at him. So, he simply cleared his throat and told Ricky he understood.

Daryl grunted next to me, brushing my arm as he leaned over to point at the map. "Guess it's just me."

I swear on all that is Holy, I was gonna end up kickin' one or both of their asses before this pissin' contest was over. Honestly, I was starting to wonder if they were even fighting over me anymore or were simple trying to one-up each other.

"I'm gonna head back to the creek, work my way from there." Daryl gasped, trying to hide the fact that my bony elbow had just met his ribcage.

Shane—never one to be outdone—piped up. "I can still be useful, _**Birdie**_ and _**I**_ can drive back to the interstate…see if Ed wandered back."

"Alright," my brother conceded, looking tired but amused. Ricky might be an idiot at times but he certainly knew Shane well enough to know when he was being a jelly-bean.

Ricky smiled at me as I gripped Shane's forearm, loving stroking his golden skin as he rested his chin on the top of my head. "Tomorrow then, we start doin' this right."

"That means we can't have the group out there with just knives…We don't know what kind of shape Ed's gonna be in when we find him…he could be violent, and he's a big fuc—friggin' man, Ricky. We need to get others gun trainin'…like we promised." I said, looking at Andrea out of the corner of my eye.

Andrea smiled brightly at my suggestion and I was glad she was in better spirits today…frankly, I was sick to death of arguing with everyone.

"She's right," Shane defended, pressing his lips to my temple before settling his police cap down on my head.

Hershel looked from me to Rick before he lowered his head. "I'd prefer you not carrying guns on my property, we've managed so far to survive this far without turning this into an Army camp," he turned to fully face my brother before he continued. "…and you and I need to have a discussion about this fella if he's dangerous."

"With all due respect," Shane spoke, rubbing his hand across my back, "but you get a crowd of those things wandering in here—

"We're guests here," Ricky interrupted, before turning to Hershel then cutting his eyes back to me and Shane. "This is your property and we _will_ respect that." Ricky finished by laying his Python .357 on the hood of the Cherokee in good faith.

Shane scoffed but relinquished his .45 and I followed by laying down my 30/06 and my 9mm.

"Don't worry about it, baby," I whispered, kissing the side of his neck. "We'll manage…we're badass."

Shane snickered before lowering his head to kiss my lips as my brother started to speak again. "First things first: Camp and then we find Ed."

"I hate to be the one who asks…but somebody's got to. What happens when we find him and he's bit." Shane asked, turning to my brother's sour face. "I think we should be clear on how to handle that."

"Then we do what we have to." I told him, gripping onto the front of his shirt as I started to feel woozy again.

"And his wife and daughter…what do you tell them?" Maggie asked, looking shocked that my husband would even mention such a thing.

I guess I was a little hasty when I said we'd get along.

Andrea looked over at me and rolled her eyes before scoffing, "The truth."

"We'll gather and secure all the weapons…" Shane started, but I didn't bother to look at him as my eyes were locked on Hershel and Maggie who didn't seem to understand why we were acting the way we were.

Jesus, were they so sheltered from the epidemic that they didn't see walkers as a threat?

"…make sure no one's carryin' until we can set up a practice range off sight. We request one rifle for lookout…Dale's got military experience."

Everyone turned to look at Hershel who didn't seem like he wanted to budge on the subject. Ricky—ever the negotiator—stood tall, looking the old man in the eye as he stuck up for Shane. I mean, come on, it was a reasonable request.

"Our people would feel safer…less inclined to carry a gun…"

Daryl leaned in close, whispering to both Shane and I, "This is bullshit."

We both nodded in agreement. This really was bullshit. Yeah, I get that Hershel didn't want that kind of danger wandering on his property…but damn, if somethin' were to happen…who knows how long it would take us to reach our weapons…it might end up being too late.

**~ Author's Note ~**

To anyone who's interested in Dr. David Ashton Byrne, his photo and the banner for this fiction can be found on Photobucket. Just look for LittleRin26…Album: Wherever the Road Might Lead. The password is: phairgel. Check it out.

If you can't access this for some reason…Dr. Byrne is an older David Bowie.


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